Explaining the decline in childhood immunisation: socioeconomic, parental, and health system drivers

Leon Iusitini (), Gail Pacheco () and Thomas Schober
Additional contact information
Leon Iusitini: Auckland University of Technology
Gail Pacheco: Auckland University of Technology

No 2026-02, Working Papers from Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics

Abstract: Childhood immunisation coverage in New Zealand has fallen since 2016, with the decline accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using administrative data from Stats NZ's Integrated Data Infrastructure, we examine determinants of immunisation uptake and how these have changed over time. We find that the likelihood of being fully immunised is lower among Māori children, later-born children, and children in lower-income households. We also identify weaker connection to primary care, particularly non-enrolment with a Primary Health Organisation, as an important factor associated with lower uptake. Although observed characteristics changed over time, these changes explain only a small share of the overall decline in uptake, suggesting an important role for unobserved factors. Finally, we find that parental COVID-19 vaccination and maternal vaccinations during pregnancy are strongly associated with children's uptake.

Keywords: Childhood immunisation; vaccine uptake; New Zealand; Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 I12 I14 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/ ... king-paper-26-02.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aut:wpaper:2026-02

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Schober ().