How to book in New Zealand
Scheduled vaccines are free at your GP or family doctor, many pharmacies, and Hauora Maori and Pacific health providers. Your child is enrolled with a doctor at birth; they will contact you when vaccines are due.
Healthpoint - find a vaccinatorTap any milestone to expand it. Each vaccine explains what it is, the diseases it prevents, and why it is given at that age.
6 weeksNewborn3 vaccines
One injection against six diseases, starting at 6 weeks for early protection against whooping cough.
Oral drops against severe infant gastroenteritis. Must start before 15 weeks.
Protects against pneumococcus, a common cause of pneumonia, ear infection and meningitis.
3 monthsNewborn3 vaccines
Second six-in-one dose.
Final rotavirus dose, by 24 weeks.
Protects against group B meningococcal meningitis and sepsis. Now part of the infant schedule. Infant paracetamol is advised around this vaccine to reduce fever.
5 monthsNewborn3 vaccines
Third dose, completing the primary course.
Second pneumococcal dose.
Second MenB dose.
12 monthsToddler3 vaccines
First MMR dose. New Zealand had a large measles outbreak in 2019, so catching up any missed MMR doses is a priority.
The pneumococcal booster.
The final MenB dose.
15 monthsToddler3 vaccines
A Hib booster.
The second MMR dose, at 15 months, for early full protection.
A single free chickenpox dose at 15 months.
4 yearsChild1 vaccine
A booster before school.
11 to 12 years (school year 7-8)Teen2 vaccines
The adolescent tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough booster.
From 2026 the school programme gives a single dose to most young people. It protects against the virus behind almost all cervical cancer and many other cancers, and is given to all genders.
Given in addition to the routine schedule, for children who meet certain criteria.
When: 13 to 25 years entering shared accommodation (university halls, boarding school, barracks)
Who: Funded for young people in close-living settings, where meningococcal disease spreads more easily. Not part of the routine childhood schedule.
When: Infancy
Who: Offered to babies at higher risk of TB, for example those living with or travelling to countries with high TB rates.
When: Every year
Who: Free for children aged 6 months and over with certain medical conditions.
How New Zealand compares with other countries for each vaccine, and the side effects that are normal.
Moving here? Moving to New Zealand with a child
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About the New Zealand schedule
New Zealand's National Immunisation Schedule is set by Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora, with clinical support from the Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC). Scheduled vaccines are free, and are recorded in the Aotearoa Immunisation Register.
Babies are immunised at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months, then at 12 and 15 months, before school at 4 years, and through a school programme around age 11-12. Meningococcal B is now part of the infant schedule. Pregnant people are also offered whooping cough and flu vaccines to protect newborns.
How New Zealand compares
New Zealand's routine schedule protects against 14 diseases across 7 vaccination ages, 3 of them in the first year. By age 2 a child has had about 15 vaccine doses, including oral drops against rotavirus.
Less common elsewhere: New Zealand routinely vaccinates against Meningococcal B, which fewer than half of the other 13 countries on this site include for every child.
Not routine here: Meningococcal C; Meningococcal A, W, Y are routine in most of the other countries we cover but not on New Zealand's schedule for every child.
Compare New Zealand with any other country, disease by disease.
Behind schedule or new to New Zealand? Almost every dose still counts, and your clinic can plan a catch-up - see common questions or moving to New Zealand.