Canterbury measles cases climb to 15, vaccine supplies run low

There are fears the measles outbreak in Canterbury could get worse with vaccine supplies running dangerously low.

More stock is being shipped from Auckland to deal with the demand. 

Fifteen people in the area are now confirmed to have measles.

The Canterbury District Health Board says the number of cases is likely to rise further over the coming days and weeks and it can now be assumed measles is circulating widely in the district.

Teenagers and young adults are most at risk as a fifth of those in that age group are not fully immunised.

Measles is a serious, highly infectious, potentially life-threatening disease.

The best protection is for people born after 1969 to have had two MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccinations.