Additional free vaccines are available for tamariki and adults who are at higher risk of some diseases due to specific living situations, or certain medical conditions, such as a weakened immune system.

Ask your doctor, nurse, or healthcare provider what extra free immunisations you or your child may need. Extra vaccines include:

• flu
• COVID-19
• meningococcal
• tuberculosis (for tamariki under 5 years old)
• pneumococcal
• hepatitis A.

If you, or your tamariki, are not eligible for free immunisations, some can be purchased — for example, meningococcal, hep A, and flu vaccines.

An extra chickenpox dose is also available at a cost.

Talk to your doctor, nurse, or healthcare provider about whether extra protection is a good idea and how much it would cost.

If you are travelling overseas, check you are up to date with routine vaccinations — in particular measles, hepatitis B, and tetanus.

Depending on where you are travelling to, you may also need to be immunised against other diseases such as yellow fever, rabies, cholera, hep A and typhoid.

Before travelling, check with your doctor, nurse, or healthcare provider to see if extra vaccinations are needed for the areas you are travelling to. There will be a cost for these. You can also check the following websites:

• List of destinations — Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (external link)
• Travel advisories by destination — Safe Travel (external link)