teambwr47

As the man of leisure and home technician (read sun bathing and drinking beer in the garden with the current weather....) i had to do some checking the last few days in regard of the MMR vaccine....

Our youngest turned 2 a couple of months back and would have been due her MMR in the UK now, which we obviously missed having moved here in late July.

Checking here in NZ its done much earlier at 15 months and my daughter is now booked to have it next week.

Whatever the cost it would not be an issue, its important, but if you're in the same position with a youngster please note we've been told its free and you can have it done at 15 months......

Just thought it might be of use to others here............

Evilbert

Do they also give kids the booster jab there as well? I think they have that at five here, can't remember exactly.

teambwr47

Got to find that out when she gets the MMR......i'll let you know.

Evilbert

Cheers, yet another thing to add to the list of stuff not to forget :curse:

zoej

Hi all,

Yes they will get the booster for the MMR at 4/5. A good site is:
www.immune.org.nz. you can get a personal calender done for your kids - you enter their birthdate and it tells you when what is due.

Coming from the UK we found the kids have not had Hepatitis B and Meningitis B which they are getting for free next week. Under 5 get the Meningitis B for free but over 5's have to pay, but not for the hepatitis's. I also need to check the HPV for my daughters. This is now give in the UK at 12 ish but at birth here. It is the cervical cancer vaccine.

teambwr47

Thanks very much for that reply.....we have two girls aged 2 and 6 so it was very useful.............


Cheers

dlmckay

My daughter was just 6 months when we made the move and so was half way through her immunisation schedule.

We discussed her immunisation with the nurse and made the decision to continue the UK schedule, adding in relevant NZ immunisations as required. There are a couple of differences, Meng C instead of B (or the other way around, can't remember) and Hepititis.

Keep your red books handy and up to date.

luvwelly

My kids are just about to finish the free 3 x Hep B vaccination course but after being initially offered the meningitis B (also 3 injections) , we were subsequently told they were too old (both under 10) to fall into the Government programme for Men B at the moment.

I wanted to pay for the Men B privately but was told it was not possible to do so as its availability is strictly controlled and aimed at target groups. I'm not particularly happy about them 'running this risk of not being vaccinated' when in a country where the disease is present. They said to ask again in Jan 2008 when the target groups may be redefined.
Has anyone else experienced this difficulty in getting the Men B?

teambwr47

Mention of the Hepatitis jabs brings back some bad memories.....

If you're told its not possible to have an adverse reaction to the jab, as i was in relation to asking the question, its not true.

Not common but i ended up being very very ill and hospitalised after a reaction to it and my health went downhill very quickly after having the injection. As a result i obviously didn't have the full course of injections and after much investigation, the true depth of which we've now seen in my notes, it was decided i'd had a 'reaction' to it.

I genuinely thought my time was up at one stage during being in hospital after the Hep jab......not good..........

CCGM.IN.NZ

Our kids were 12 and 15 when we moved here last year. The doctors surgery looked through their medical notes (didn't have the 'red books' to hand) and I was told they would both need the Hep B x 3 doses and the Meningococcal B. Had them all done at the doctors surgery for free.

Here comes the sun

My daughter wont be pleased she hates doctors surgerys with a passion. Her first experiances of NZ will be several needles in her arm!

luvwelly

Yes, it is not much fun....they seem to have seriously bad injection technique at the practice where we go...I don't remember such things being as bad in UK as my kids seem to find them here, but they are older I suppose.
You can get EMLA cream and apply it an hour beforehand which might help a bit....I asked about this and got the 'pooh we don't need that' approach....I understand in the UK that it is often used thesedays...it is after all, best not to turn kids into needle phobics unnecessarily

Had a totally painless dental injection here the other day though so at least no worries in that department .

uk+kiwi

My daughters were called for their MMR jabs in the UK as soon as they turned one.

It's been around in NZ for a long time, compared to the UK. Hubbie had it as a baby in the early 70's.

And the pre school booster seems to be done at 4 where we live.

My daughter had an adverse reaction to the 4th HIb/Men C combined vaccine. No idea why but her leg ballooned to more than twice it's usual size, was red and very hot from the reaction, plus her skin was very tight with the swelling. (Stretch marks did spring to mind at the time initially!) Fever but thankfully no vomitting/headaches which I was told were the 'critical' side effects being monitored. Very scary at the time, but the drama was over within about 24 hours. I guess this may mean she's highly sensitive to the disease and may not actually have strong/any immunity.