Immunisation coverage
Immunisation coverage is the percentage of children who have received all of the immunisations on the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule for their age.
Why is it measured?
Immunisation coverage is measured to identify groups at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases and to evaluate the effectiveness of programmes designed to increase coverage.
Why is high coverage important?
High coverage is important to protect not only the health of an individual but to protect the community as well. High coverage reduces the spread of disease to those who have not been vaccinated either by choice or because of medical reasons, such as children with leukaemia whilst receiving treatment.
What is New Zealand's target?
New Zealand’s target for immunisation coverage is 95% of children are fully immunised by 2 years of age. More comprehensive information covering a wider age group will be available as the children enrolled on the NIR grow older.
Coverage data
Since 2005 coverage has been measured using New Zealand’s National Immunisation Register (NIR). Detailed national and district health board immunisation coverage data is available.
Before the NIR, immunisation coverage was measured using coverage surveys. The last survey was in 2005 – the National Childhood Immunisation Coverage Survey 2005. The results showed 77% of children were fully immunised at the age of 2 years.
In this section
- Detailed immunisation coverage data for New Zealand and for each of the district health boards. Immunisation coverage is measured at several different ‘milestone ages’ during a three and 12 month reporting period. Read more
- Questions and answers on immunisation coverage in New Zealand, and how it is measured. Read more
Page last updated: 03 February 2009
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