There are concerns the COVID-19 pandemic could be followed by a measles outbreak.
That's because of a sharp decline in children's vaccination rates, down 8 percent in just two years - and its even worse for Māori tamariki.
GPs say the focus on fighting coronavirus has resulted in a lack of attention on getting kids immunised.
Putting on a brave face, four-year-old Mika today got his diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio vaccines.
But scenes like this have taken a dive in the past two years. Child immunisation rates are down and GPs are worried.
"If we don't get kids vaccinations rates up, then we will see diseases coming through in future that are really nasty and we will be hospitalising kids," says Dr Samantha Murton from the College of GPs.
At the end of 2019, immunisation rates for two-year-olds were at almost 92 percent - but by December 2021 that had dropped below 84 percent.
For Māori, immunisation rates dropped nearly 18 percent over that two-year period to just 69.7 percent.
Rates for eight-month-old immunisations have dropped 4.7 percent since 2019, but for Māori it's a more than 12 percent decline.
College of GPs Dr Bryan Betty says he has real concerns about whooping cough and measles this year.
"We have a major public health issue here, with falling fully vaccinated rates and potential for whooping cough and measles this winter which will stretch the health system and potentially differentially affect Māori in particular.
"We need to remember the outbreak prior to COVID where around 80 children died in Samoa - this is a deadly disease for children."
Dr Murton says there is a risk we will get an outbreak for the flu, the measles or whooping cough.
"As rates go down, then the risk of an outbreak is higher."
Rates are low because COVID-19 has zapped resources.
"We're all focused on COVID, focused on getting people vaccinated and what we weren't watching carefully was that data going down around immunisations," said Donna Matahaere-Atariki, Ōtākou Health Limited chair.
Health Minister Andrew Little says "we had a big job to do".
"We had to set priorities, we had to make a call to pause the MMR campaign, but we are back on board with that now."
Those working at the coal face want a better strategy.
"I'm yet to hear from those in ministry or DHBs to be invited in to say how we are going to fix this," says Matahaere-Atariki.
But there is a strategy for the flu vaccine. The Health Minister took his shirt off on Friday for the new jab in town.
$12 million is being injected into the Government's flu vaccine campaign and 2 million doses are available - a 40 percent increase because an influx of flu is expected as the borders open.
"We expect this to be, for want of a better phrase, a bumper flu season," Little said.
You can get your flu jab from pharmacies or your local GP, and health officials are considering making it available at COVID-19 vaccine centres.
"We're doing some work on whether we can harness the amazing vaccination workforce we assembled for COVID," Little said.
Because COVID-19 isn't the only deadly virus to protect yourself, and your whanau, against.
