RELATED LINKS - Meningitis vaccine trials begins - Go to the Ministry's meningococcal news - Concerns over immunisation RELATED VIDEO - Vaccination rates too low say doctors (02.46)

Doctors are anxious to change what they say is a lingering climate of fear and misinformation about immunisation.

New research suggests that fewer parents see the need to immunise their children, and young mothers are the biggest culprits.

The research, announced at a national immunisation conference in Christchurch, questioned 500 mothers of young babies.

Of those surveyed, 19% believed that if their babies were simply kept clean and well-fed they would not catch vaccine preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. That number is up from only 8% in 1992.

Younger mothers believed it most strongly - 30% of those under 24 years of age agreed.

Doctors attribute the rise to the younger generation have no living memory of such epidemics and to misinformation about immunisation.

"There's a lot of information around about vaccine reactions and maybe very little information around about what is the benefit and the real reasons behind immunisation," says Dr Nikki Turner.

Our current national immunisation rate is currently around 60%, well short of the 95% rate needed to keep the diseases at bay.

The government is trialing a new computerised immunisation database to help achieve that figure.

The database will be able to track a child's immunisation history. It will be made nation-wide in 2003.

Meningococcal disease

Health officials are searching for more than 300 child volunteers, in stage two of the Health Ministry's trials of a new vaccine.

Children at over 30 South Auckland schools will be given consent forms to take home to parents.

Children in the trial will be given three vaccinations over six months.

Once the trial is over, ministry officials hope the vaccine will be given to all people under 20 by 2004.