There are now 27 confirmed cases of the measles in the Canterbury region, with that number expected to rise.
MMR vaccines in Canterbury will be topped up today with 18,000 doses expected to arrive in the region.
The Ministry of Health was hoping to vaccinate 100,000 people but says this isn’t possible straight away.
“It was always scheduled to occur over a six to eight week period,” Director of General Health Ashley Bloomfield told TVNZ1’s Breakfast.
He reassured the public that there is ”a vaccine either onshore or coming".
Dr Bloomfield says typically 144,000 would receive the vaccine this year.
The first dose of MMR is usually given around 15 months of age although infants as young as 12 months can receive the vaccine as well.
Children under the age of 12 months are strongly advised to not get the vaccine unless entering a country which is also going through an outbreak.
Dr Bloomfield says health officials are “putting out alerts to other regions on a regular basis.”
Afterwards there is a process of tracing anyone that has been in contact with someone who have the measles and then a process of checking their immunisation history.
There have been isolated cases throughout the country since the beginning of the year, all of which are not related to the Canterbury outbreak.
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