Measles outbreak warning - plea to vaccinate children

Pacific people are being warned about a potential outbreak of measles after a case was discovered in Northland.

In the last major outbreak in 2019, hundreds of people, mainly children, caught measles and were forced to go to hospital.

Dr William Rainger told Pacific Mornings that measles is very infectious.

"We talked in Covid about the reproductive value which was any one person with Covid could infect two or three other people.

"With measles, the number is more like 15 or 16.

"So it's very very infectious if you're close to a person with measles."

He urged parents to make sure they were vaccinated themselves as well as their children.

"There is a group of people who are around the ages of 18 to 30 who may have missed out on MMR when they were growing up.

"So we really encourage people to check their immunisation records or ask their parents did I have MMR. If there's any doubt go and seek the doctor and get advice."

Rainger said it was completely safe to get the vaccine for a third time if people weren't sure they had already had two shots.

Watch the full interview with Dr William Rainger on Pacific Mornings: