Director of public health Dr Nick Chamberlain said vaccination remained the best protection against the virus. Photo: 123rf
There were no confirmed new measles cases in New Zealand on Thursday, however, 16 contacts of the earlier cases were symptomatic.
Health New Zealand said the total number of confirmed cases in the outbreak remained at 17, with 14 no longer infectious.
The cases had generated 210 exposure events, of which 122 remained open.
Those events had generated 3348 contacts, of which 131 remained open - with two yet to be contacted - and 3217 were closed.
Cases would likely grow with 16 contacts symptomatic, Health NZ said.
Director of public health Dr Nick Chamberlain said vaccination remained the best protection against the virus.
"Someone who's immune can walk through a ward or room full of people with measles and be effectively bulletproof, whereas someone who isn't immune has a 90 percent chance of catching measles, even if there's only one person in the room.
"MMR vaccination is very safe and 99 percent effective after two doses.
"I'd really like to make a special plea to healthcare workers - both in our Health New Zealand facilities, but also in the community, as well as teachers and those people dealing with large numbers of the public to check their immunity and if needed get vaccinated."
The Health Minister will be getting advice on whether the measles vaccine should be extended to under one year olds.
Simeon Brown told Checkpoint a technical advisory group was considering that option amid the current measles outbreak and would report back over the next week or so.
Brown said the government would not consider making measles vaccinations compulsory, but people were encouraged to get vaccinated.
More than 8000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) had been administered since Monday, with 2905 doses administered on Wednesday - the highest number since the 2019 measles outbreak.
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