The front line against measles: parents of unvaccinated children have the obligation to stay away from Auckland, children being kept away from major tournaments sports

Parents of unvaccinated children are encouraged not to take them to Auckland because the authorities are trying to prevent the measles outbreak from spreading further.

This comes from the fact that more than a thousand students in South Auckland schools are being held back home to avoid any risk of further contamination. Children from one school were asked to stay away from a national sports tournament next week for the same reason.

The Ministry of Health asks people traveling to Auckland to make sure they are vaccinated. Parents should make sure that infants 12 to 14 months old get their shots at least two weeks before traveling to Auckland – even though the vaccine is usually given at 15 months.

Read more: All you need to know about measles

The epidemic, which began in January, showed little sign of slowing this week. The number of confirmed cases in Auckland has increased to 731. Of these 501 cases, 501 are in Manukau counties. A further 144 cases have been confirmed in the rest of the country.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday called on parents to vaccinate their children, saying it was the most important thing to do to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.

Ardern, who said his Neve baby was up to date on vaccination, said he was worried for those who choose not to be vaccinated.

A flawless stay

"My strong advice to anyone is to ensure that you are vaccinated.Make sure you are not just relying on your lack of contact.The smartest and safest thing to do is to be vaccinated. "

In South Auckland, many schools have asked children to stay at home if they are not vaccinated and the highly contagious disease is spreading even further before the annual School Sport NZ winter tournament next week.

Approximately 25,000 high school students will participate in the multi-site tournament in the North and South Islands.

College Sport Auckland has asked its 110 high schools to check the vaccination record of all students before they leave.

At Aorere College of Papatoetoe, director Greg Pierce said six students had caught measles this year and that one case was still "alive," forcing the college to send 20 to 30 students this week.

He asked for medical records for all students heading to the winter tournament.

"We will ask them not to go there if they are not vaccinated," he said.

"In our elementary school, more students are immune than usual.Unfortunately, it is the opposite for high school.This poses big problems for the preparation of the week of the tournament . "

In Manurewa High School, which is at the epicenter of the epidemic, only half of its 2,000 students were in school yesterday.

Director Pete Jones said that there were 10 confirmed cases of measles and four others on hold.

"We asked who not to send unimmunized children – we had just over 1000 students in school today," he said. "There are 300 people who have been sent home and 700 others who have stayed home today."

James Cook Secondary School, also in Manurewa, saw one confirmed case and a dozen others reported. She asked parents yesterday to keep unvaccinated children at home in two classes where students were in contact with a student assigned to another school.

"I guess we only have a few days or even weeks behind Manurewa High School," said director Grant McMillan.

"At the secondary level, immunization data are not collected, we only have citizenship data, schools are scrambling now to compile lists of who is vaccinated or not."

Heath McNeil, director of Ormiston, said one of his students had contracted measles two days ago, even though he had been fully vaccinated. But he said that vaccination meant that the case was only "slight".

Auckland Sport Executive Director Jim Lonergan said the number of Auckland high schools with at least one case of measles was "double-digit" and that schools had taken a different approach to next week's tournament.

"What schools do, as far as we can judge, is that students who have not been vaccinated will not do so because we want to minimize the risks," he said. .

Garry Carnachan of School Sport NZ, who runs the tournament, said that non-immune students were not banned and that it was up to parents to "ensure that their students are protected."

The Auckland Medical Officer of Health, Dr. William Rainger, said he asked the schools "to know who is immune and not to become immune, so that they know who to quarantine if they have a case. being processed." [tournament] the week".

"We did not ask the schools to leave behind students and staff who are not in the shelter, but we made it clear to them what to do if they feel unwell at home. someone, "he said.

"We are trying to strike a balance between the risk of spreading the disease and the importance of these events in students' lives."