Concerns current vaccination rates aren't sufficient to protect communities from measles

The Public Health Service says there's a high risk of a national outbreak - with four unlinked cases confirmed in Auckland, Manawatu, and Nelson.

Public Health Medicine Specialist Sharon Sime says recent deaths in the UK, the US, and Canada are a stark reminder of the danger.

She says childhood vaccination rates are too low to prevent the spread of measles - and while progress is being made, New Zealand needs to do better.

Sime says they need 95-percent immunity.