Immunisation coverage

Why is immunisation coverage measured?

Immunisation coverage is measured to identify groups at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases and to evaluate the effectiveness of programmes designed to increase coverage.

Why is high coverage important?

High coverage protects not only the health of an individual but protects the community as well. High coverage reduces the spread of disease to those who who are unable to be vaccinated, such as newborns, or children with leukaemia whilst receiving treatment.

Immunisation data

Since 2005 coverage has been measured using data from New Zealand’s National Immunisation Register (NIR). Detailed national and regional immunisation data is available.

Before the NIR was built, immunisation coverage was measured using coverage surveys. The last survey was in 2005 – the National Childhood Immunisation Coverage Survey 2005. The results showed 77 percent of children were fully immunised at the age of two years old.

National and regional immunisation data

Immunisation coverage for New Zealand children at 24 months of age is 83.1 percent for the three-month period ending 30 June 2023.

Immunisation coverage is measured at ‘milestone ages’ using National Immunisation Register (NIR) data. The milestone ages are six months, eight months, 12 months (one year), 18 months, 24 months (two years), 54 months (four and a half years) and five years of age.

The following tables show the immunisation status of children who turned the milestone age during a three-month or 12-month reporting period ending 30 June 2023 and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

2020/21 data: Please note a data quality issue affected how a small number of immunisation events were recorded following the October 2020 Schedule change. A fix has since been applied and these are now reporting correctly, however you may see slight variations in the previous Q2 and Q3 2020/21 coverage rates as a result.

National immunisation data - summary

National immunisation coverage – three-month reporting period ending 30 June 2023

The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during a three-month period from 1 April to 30 June 2023 and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

Milestone Age	Number Eligible	Fully Immunised for age		Opt-Offs		Declines
Milestone Age	Number Eligible	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
6 month	14,354	9,774	68.1%	88	0.6%	766	5.3%
8 month	14,750	12,300	83.4%	91	0.6%	804	5.5%
12 month (1 year)	14,469	12,735	88.0%	89	0.6%	776	5.4%
18 month	15,944	11,090	69.6%	99	0.6%	1,013	6.4%
24 month (2 years)	16,054	13,336	83.1%	109	0.7%	1,069	6.7%
54 month (4.5 years)	15,311	9,920	64.8%	119	0.8%	1,001	6.5%
5 year	15,167	12,285	81.0%	112	0.7%	1,100	7.3%

National Immunisation Coverage – 12-month reporting period ending 30 June 2023

The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during the 12-month period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, and who have completed their age-appropriate immunisations.

Milestone Age	Number Eligible	Fully Immunised for age		Opt-Offs		Declines
Milestone Age	Number Eligible	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
6 month	58,386	39,977	68.5%	354	0.6%	3,196	5.5%
8 month	59,571	49,898	83.8%	363	0.6%	3,320	5.6%
12 month (1 year)	61,152	53,800	88.0%	368	0.6%	3,409	5.6%
18 month	63,171	43,124	68.3%	381	0.6%	4,183	6.6%
24 month (2 years)	61,780	50,882	82.4%	419	0.7%	4,187	6.8%
54 month (4.5 years)	61,294	40,310	65.8%	484	0.8%	4,302	7.0%
5 year	62,382	50,425	80.8%	453	0.7%	4,286	6.9%

In the tables above:

‘Number eligible’ is the number of children who turned one of the milestone ages in the three-month or 12-month reporting period.
‘Fully immunised for age’ is the number of eligible children who have completed all of their age-appropriate immunisations by the time they turned the milestone age.
‘Opt-offs' is a count of individuals who have opted off the NIR.
'Declines' is a count of individuals who have declined any one vaccination.

National and regional data immunisation data in detail

Detailed immunisation coverage data for New Zealand and for each of the 20 districts are in the spreadsheets below. Milestone age data is presented by ethnicity and level of deprivation for three-month and 12-month reporting periods. From 1 July 2012 coverage figures reported in the following tables include pneumococcal vaccine.