Immunisation coverage

Why is it 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 is important to protect not only the health of an individual but to protect the community as well. High coverage reduces the spread of disease to those who have not been vaccinated either by choice or because of medical reasons, such as children with leukaemia whilst receiving treatment.

Coverage data

Since 2005 coverage has been measured using data from New Zealand’s National Immunisation Register (NIR). Detailed national and DHB immunisation coverage 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 83.2% percent for the three-month period ending 31 March 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 coverage for children who turned the milestone age during a three-month or 12-month reporting period ending 31 March 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 coverage data tables

National immunisation coverage – three-month reporting period ending 31 March 2023

The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during a three-month period from 1 January to 31 March 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	14,523	9,816	67.6%	98	0.7%	708	4.9%
8 month	14,456	12,084	83.6%	92	0.6%	751	5.2%
12 month (1 year)	14,915	13,123	88.0%	80	0.5%	787	5.3%
18 month	15,756	10,692	67.9%	101	0.6%	931	5.9%
24 month (2 years)	15,300	12,723	83.2%	68	0.4%	1,034	6.8%
54 month (4.5 years)	15,412	9,807	63.6%	127	0.8%	1,044	6.8%
5 year	15,284	12,382	81.0%	126	0.8%	1,047	6.9%

National Immunisation Coverage – 12-month reporting period ending 31 March 2023

The table below shows the immunisation coverage of children who turned one of the milestone ages during the 12-month period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 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	59,706	40,830	68.4%	360	0.6%	3,111	5.2%
8 month	60,494	50,774	83.9%	359	0.6%	3,235	5.3%
12 month (1 year)	62,576	55,184	88.2%	383	0.6%	3,396	5.4%
18 month	62,059	41,769	67.3%	391	0.6%	4,017	6.5%
24 month (2 years)	60,178	49,640	82.5%	391	0.6%	4,078	6.8%
54 month (4.5 years)	61,678	40,576	65.8%	464	0.8%	4,261	6.9%
5 year	62,801	50,800	80.9%	471	0.7%	4,141	6.6%

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 spreadsheets

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.