The director of the Immunisation Advisory Council is encouraged that more children are being vaccinated for measles.
So far this year 173 cases of measles have been confirmed. Most have been in the Auckland region but in the past two weeks at least 12 cases have been reported in the Waikato.
The outbreaks are affecting school children who have not been immunised.
Dr Nicki Turner believes an increased awareness about the illness is the reason why more parents are choosing to get their children immunised, though she says pockets of the community are still not getting the message.
These include families in poverty, who have other urgent needs in their lives.
Dr Turner says immunisation rates have been increasing in the past few years and more than 90% of children have had all their vaccines.
