The truth about vaccination

The truth about vaccination

Are you old enough to remember hospital wards filled with iron lungs and kids wearing callipers on their legs during the polio epidemic? Can you recall when an outbreak of measles or whooping cough sent shivers of apprehension up parents’ spines?

Today there are entire generations of New Zealanders who have never seen the devastating effects of these deadly diseases. But parents who choose not to vaccinate because they don’t think their children need protecting will get a shock when they see the front cover of the June issue of North & South magazine.

Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman had all her limbs amputated after she contracted meningitis during a nationwide epidemic when she was only six months old. “Baby Charlotte”, as she was known throughout the country during her desperate fight to survive, is now six and at primary school on Waiheke Island. She had missed out on the meningococcal B immunisation programme by just a few weeks.

With reports revealing New Zealand has the second lowest immunisation rate in the OECD, North & South takes a stand on vaccination. Why aren’t “good” parents vaccinating their children, asks deputy editor Joanna Wane – and is it putting the rest of us at risk?

Also in the June issue, Donna Chisholm goes back to two schools from opposite ends of the economic spectrum, but with something in common – each has produced a Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Chisholm thought high-decile Epsom Girls Grammar would naturally have far fewer governance issues than decile-one Otahuhu College. Assumptions can be misleading she has found.

Other features in the June issue of North & South include:

Where the Bloody Hell are You? When the rest of your family moves to Brisbane, do you stay or do you go? Graham Adams explains why he still lives in Auckland (and offers some good reasons not to move to Queensland).

Martin Snedden – Mr World Cup. Next year, one man will be under more pressure than even the All Blacks to succeed at the Rugby World Cup. Mike White talks to the event’s chief executive and chief cheerleader, Martin Snedden. It’s New Zealand’s first in-depth profile of the man running our showcase event.

Star of the West. A former “Westie” who grew up reading comics and hot-wiring cars is one of the finest mathematical minds New Zealand has produced.

It’s all in the June issue of North & South on magazine stands from Monday 17 May.

ENDS

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