Letter: Immunisation

It concerns me terribly that our choices are being eroded to choosing selected vaccines for our children.

I would like to share our experience.  For our first child, we decided to withhold consent for the standard course of childhood immunisations, after thorough investigation and consideration.  We choose to vaccinate our daughter against tetanus only.  This choice matched our beliefs and lifestyle very well.  As the scheduled vaccinations weren't followed we paid $45 for the three shots of tetanus vaccine.  Two and a half years later we are revisiting the vaccination issue with our second child.  This time the practice nurse informs us that tetanus only vaccine is now costing $75 for the complete course.  Why is it so expensive for one vaccine when the government funds the full vaccination course? I also discussed with the nurse our desire to have our girls tested in pre-teen years to see if they have naturally acquired antibodies to rubella/German measles.  If they haven't, we would wish them to have the rubella vaccine only.  The nurse informed us that the government won't import this vaccine.  She told us of some parents going to the extremes of trying to import this vaccine themselves, but having the dilemma of not being able to find any health professional who will administer it (as the vaccine is not registered in New Zealand so against their code of ethics.)  Also there are other problems encounter such as how to keep the vaccine at the required temperature during transportation.  The practice nurse went on to inform us that some parents wanting 'rubella only vaccination' are visiting Australia with their children and receiving it there.  That is our only other option too. I believe it is irrational for our government not to support parents who wish to vaccinate against one or two diseases - isn't it better to have one or two immunisations administered than no vaccinations at all?

Samantha MacKenzie

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