15 months immunisation

Your toddler is at risk! Keep them safe, immunise at 15 months.

Immunising at 15 months of age helps to keep your toddler safe from many infectious diseases.

These infectious diseases can make toddlers really unwell and by immunising you can help to protect them from:

Measles - a highly infectious viral disease that can often have serious complications.
Mumps - a highly contagious viral infection spread by droplets in the air and saliva. It is typically recognised by fever and swollen, tender salivary glands.
Rubella - a viral disease that causes a rash and swollen glands. It may cause severe damage to unborn babies if acquired during pregnancy.
Chicken pox - also known as varicella, is a highly infectious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus and is most commonly seen in children.
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) - a bacteria that can cause many illnesses including meningitis.
Pneumococcal disease – this disease can cause pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease including bacteraemia (blood infection) and meningitis.

Immunising your toddler at 15 months is really important as it is the first chance to protect them from Measles, Mumps and Rubella. This vaccine (MMR) is very effective and after this first dose of MMR vaccine, 90-95% of toddlers will be protected from measles, 95-96% protected from mumps, and 90-97% protected from rubella. A second booster dose of MMR is given at 4 years of age.

Since late December 2013, there have been a number of cases of measles in New Zealand. See the Ministry of Health website for up to date information on the current situation.

The Ministry of Health and Toi Te Ora Public Health recommends that all children are fully immunised. To be fully immunised, your child should receive their free vaccinations at the following ages:

6 weeks
3 months
5 months
15 months
4 years
11 years
12 years

Immunising on time, everytime is ideal, but if your child has missed one of their vaccinations, it’s never too late to catch up, contact your doctor or practice nurse today.

Visit the Ministry of Health website to read more about the national immunisation programme.

Listen to the radio advertisement for 15 months immunisation.