My view is that it is probably better late than never, but this should have happened ages ago," he said. Like many other doctors, he was also critical of the urgent vaccination response mounted last year to try to stop the outbreak. An Auckland Regional Public Health paper in May 2019 had said it would not take many vaccinations to stem the rapid spread. But health authorities did not get that up and running until it was too late - and the response was disorganised, Dr Talemaitoga said. There have been no new measles cases since January but experts said until the vaccination gap was closed, the country remained vulnerable.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 30, 2020 21:45 UTC