Why is immunisation coverage 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 protects not only the health of an individual but protects the community as well. High coverage reduces the spread of disease to those who are unable to be vaccinated, such as newborns, or children with leukaemia whilst receiving treatment.

Immunisation data

Since 2005 coverage has been measured using data from New Zealand’s National Immunisation Register (NIR). From the end of 2023, the data will come from both the NIR and the new Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR). From early 2024 the data will only come from the AIR. Detailed national and regional immunisation data is available.


Before the NIR was built, immunisation coverage was measured using coverage surveys. The last survey was in 2005 – 
the National Childhood Immunisation Coverage Survey 2005. The results showed 77 percent of children were fully immunised at the age of two years old.

National and regional immunisation data

Immunisation coverage for New Zealand children at 24 months of age is 81.0 percent for the three-month period ending 31 December 2023.

Immunisation coverage is measured at ‘milestone ages’ using National Immunisation Register (NIR) data. The milestone ages are six months, eight months, 12 months (one year), 18 months, 24 months (two years), 54 months (four and a half years) and five years of age.

The following tables show the immunisation status of children who turned the milestone age during a three-month or 12-month reporting period ending 31 December 2023 and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

2020/21 data: Please note a data quality issue affected how a small number of immunisation events were recorded following the October 2020 Schedule change. A fix has since been applied and these are now reporting correctly, however you may see slight variations in the Q2 and Q3 2020/21 coverage rates as a result.

National immunisation data - summary


National immunisation coverage – three-month reporting period ending 31 December 2023.


The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during a three-month period from 1 October to 31 December 2023 and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

 

Milestone Age

Number Eligible

Fully Immunised for age

Opt-Offs

Declines

No.

%

No.

%

No.

%

6 month

13,996

9,031

64.5%

86

0.6%

704

5.0%

8 month

13,581

11,115

81.8%

87

0.6%

750

5.5%

12 month (1 year)

14,507

12,547

86.5%

90

0.6%

867

6.0%

18 month

14,545

9,587

65.9%

80

0.6%

892

6.1%

24 month (2 years)

16,044

12,992

81.0%

96

0.6%

1,066

6.6%

54 month (4.5 years)

15,551

10,045

64.6%

108

0.7%

989

6.4%

5 year

15,430

12,051

78.1%

113

0.7%

1,049

6.8%

National Immunisation Coverage – 12-month reporting period ending 31 December 2023

The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during the 12-month period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

Milestone Age

Number Eligible

Fully Immunised for age

Opt-Offs

Declines

No.

%

No.

%

No.

%

6 month

57,246

38,487

67.2%

370

0.6%

2,616

4.6%

8 month

57,431

47,504

82.7%

362

0.6%

2,938

5.1%

12 month (1 year)

58,862

51,345

87.2%

354

0.6%

3,148

5.3%

18 month

61,531

41,588

67.6%

363

0.6%

3,644

5.9%

24 month
(2 years)

63,686

51,620

81.1%

396

0.6%

4,055

6.4%

54 month (4.5 years)

62,377

40,687

65.2%

463

0.7%

3,850

6.2%

5 year

61,919

48,579

78.5%

480

0.8%

4,170

6.7%

In the tables above:

  • ‘Number eligible’ is the number of children who turned one of the milestone ages in the three-month or 12-month reporting period.
  • ‘Fully immunised for age’ is the number of eligible children who have completed all of their age-appropriate immunisations by the time they turned the milestone age.
  • ‘Opt-offs' is a count of individuals who have opted off the NIR.
  • 'Declines' is a count of individuals who have declined any one vaccination.

National and regional data immunisation data in detail

Detailed immunisation coverage data for New Zealand and for each of the 20 districts are in the spreadsheets below. Milestone age data is presented by ethnicity and level of deprivation for three-month and 12-month reporting periods. From 1 July 2012 coverage figures reported in the following tables include pneumococcal vaccine.

From 1 January 2024 ethnicity coverage of “NZ European” and “Other” ethnic groups merged and created the “European or Other” group.

Immunisation coverage data – three-month reporting period

Immunisation coverage data – 12-month reporting period

 

Immunisation coverage data is reported quarterly. The next update will be May 2024.