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Vaccines
How do they work? Who needs them? Are there any risks?
Key points about vaccines
Vaccinations are one of the best ways to protect against many serious infectious diseases.
Routine immunisation programmes protect most of the world’s children from a number of infectious diseases that previously caused millions of deaths each year.
Read about the different types of vaccines including side effects.
Being vaccinated causes your body to produce antibodies. This means that if you are infected with a disease (from a cough, sneeze, blood, etc), these protective antibodies are already in your bloodstream to quickly fight off the germs. Even if vaccinated people do get sick from the disease, they usually get a mild form of that disease, recover faster and are less likely to have serious complications.
Babies are born with immunity to some infections because their mother’s antibodies are passed on to them in the womb, but this immunity does not last long. Babies get more immunity from being breastfed and, as they grow, they need vaccinations at specific ages to protect them from many life-threatening diseases. Read more about vaccine-preventable diseases.
These contain bacteria or viruses that have been weakened so that they can't cause disease.
After vaccination, the weakened vaccine viruses or bacteria replicate (grow) in the vaccinated person.
This small amount of virus or bacteria can stimulate an immune response.
Live vaccines are not recommended if you are pregnant or have a very weak immune system from active cancer, leukaemia, lymphoma, HIV or are taking medicines that can weaken your immune system.
These contain bacteria or viruses that have been killed or inactivated.
They can be safely given to a person with a weakened immune system. However, you may not develop the same amount of protection after vaccination as a healthy person receiving the vaccine.
With inactivated vaccines, you usually need many doses to give full protection against diseases.
Subunit vaccines
These contain parts of bacteria or viruses or bacterial toxins that have been made harmless.
This vaccine does not contain any virus. Instead, it contains a molecule called mRNA that has instructions for making the spike protein on the surface of the COVID virus. The virus needs this spike protein to enter your body’s cells.
The mRNA from the vaccine does not stay in your body, but is broken down shortly after vaccination.
Vaccines may also contain other ingredients, such as preservatives, and ingredients that help your body respond to the vaccine. The very small amount of these ingredients does not cause any harm. Learn more about what ingredients are in a vaccine(external link).
Image credit: Te Whatu Ora, NZ
The National Immunisation Schedule(external link) has a list of free vaccinations for different ages. Vaccinating on time gives the best protection. Missing or late vaccinations can put your family/whānau’s health at risk.
Most vaccines are given to babies and children to build up their immunity. Vaccination starts at 6 weeks old.
Other vaccines are recommended for people who are at greater risk of certain diseases, such as people with a weakened immune system because of illness or the medicines they are taking, the elderly or people who are travelling overseas where certain diseases are more common.
Most reactions to vaccines are mild, such as fever or redness at the injection site. These reactions show that your immune response is building and the vaccine is working. If you are worried, contact your doctor straight away.
Very rarely, a serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) can happen. This is treatable and occurs soon after the injection. This is why you must wait at the doctor's clinic for 20 minutes after vaccination.
Studies have shown that if all recommended doses of vaccines are given, they will protect 80–98% of the children who are vaccinated. For example, pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine is effective in about 84% of children and the measles vaccine in 90–98% of children.
Vaccination is an important part of protecting the community against disease. This helps to prevent serious infections spreading and protects babies who are yet to be fully vaccinated and people who cannot be vaccinated because they are unwell. About 95% of people in the community need to be vaccinated to protect the whole community against diseases like measles. Learn more about worldwide protection(external link).
A very small number of people who are vaccinated don't develop strong immunity and they may still become ill with one of the diseases. If that happens, they usually have a milder illness than people who have not been vaccinated.
More than one dose of some vaccines is needed for full protection. Booster doses of vaccines may be also be needed for some diseases to stay protected. Learn more about the effectiveness of vaccines(external link).
The best place to go for vaccinations is your family medical clinic. They have your medical records and can check to see if you’ve already had a particular vaccination. Either your doctor or a nurse can give the vaccination.
If you don’t have a family doctor, you can go to one of the after-hour medical clinics. Phone them first to make sure they can help you with the vaccination you need.
You can find a clinic near you on the Healthpoint(external link) website. Put in your address and region, and under Select a service, click on GPs/Accident & Urgent Medical Care.
Vaccines on the National Immunisation Schedule(external link) are free. Other vaccines are funded only for people at particular risk of disease. You can choose to pay for vaccines that you are not eligible to receive for free.
In the following videos, Dr Keriana Bird discusses commonly asked questions about immunisation. Knowing the facts can help you feel more confident about making sure your child has all their vaccinations.
Why immunise?
Immunisation: common questions answered
How safe are vaccines?
Are there any side effects from vaccines?
Is there a natural alternative to immunisation?
A lot of these diseases aren’t around anymore. Do we still need to worry?
