Travellers to and from Auckland are being warned to vaccinate against measles at least two weeks ahead of time to prevent the viral illness spreading.
New Zealand's Director of Public Health said a lot of people have close ties with the Pacific region and with school holidays approaching, many plan to travel.
Caroline McElnay said the Ministry is seeing a substantial number of measles cases in Auckland and wants to limit the outbreak.
She says as people who may not be aware that they have got measles but are in the early stages of infection, as those people travel overseas, and that includes the Pacific and they know there is a lot of people from Auckland do travel to the Pacific, there is a real chance that they may infect others when they are in the Pacific.
Dr McElnay recommends immunising travelling children from the age of twelve months.
Source: Radio NZ
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