Anna Howe – The Conversation

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October 23, 2025

NZ may be on the cusp of another measles outbreak – what happened in 2019 should be a warning

Anna Howe, University of Canterbury; Emma Best, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Rachel Webb, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Only about 82% of two-year-olds are fully immunised against measles, with two doses of the vaccine. This leaves at least one in five unprotected.

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August 9, 2022

NZ children face a ‘perfect storm’ of dangerous diseases as immunisation rates fall

Anna Howe, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Emma Best, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Matthew Hobbs, University of Canterbury

The risk of serious disease outbreaks among NZ children is now very real. Some childhood immunisation rates have dropped from about 80% in early 2020 to 67% by June 2022, and as low as 45% for Māori.

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February 1, 2022

The most challenging phase of the Omicron outbreak is yet to come, but New Zealand may be better prepared than other countries

Matthew Hobbs, University of Canterbury; Anna Howe, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Lukas Marek, University of Canterbury

New Zealand has managed to stamp out onward transmission of the Delta variant, which means it’s not dealing with a “double epidemic” and has a better chance to tackle Omicron’s spread.

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