Nick's Kōrero

Nick's Kōrero

Measles Outbreak

Vaccination rates and school closures.

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Nick Rockel
Nov 03, 2025
∙ Paid

Cos I know
This is the end of the beginning of the outbreak of love

Songwriters: James Moginie / Robert Hirst / Martin Rotsey / Peter Garrett / Wayne Stevens.


As of this morning, we have 17 known cases of measles in Northland, Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, and Nelson. That number continues to grow, as does the need for action.

Photo: THOM LEACH / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRA /AFP.

During Covid, some of us wondered how different things might’ve been if the parties of the right were in power. With the current measles outbreak, we get to see how they handle responding to an emergency and controlling a situation to limit the impact.

It is somewhat ironic that this government, which recently complained about the impact of teacher strikes on students taking end-of-year exams, is now in a situation where schools are closing due to low vaccination rates.

The irony is that the three parties in our coalition haven’t exactly been pro-vaccines or in favour of restrictive health measures in the event of an outbreak.

New Zealand First aligned itself with anti-vaxxers, ACT values lives cheaply and believes we should leave these matters to resolve themselves, and National blames every issue on the Covid response of the previous government, despite largely agreeing with it at the time.

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