Samoa Head of Health

Parents urged to vaccinate children against measles in Cooks

Heads of health from Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Niue, Tokelau and the Cook Islands attended the Polynesian Health Corridors Dialogue in Auckland on Friday.

Director of Health in the Cook Islands, Dr Josephine Aumea Herman, said there had been three new cases of measles in the country.

Parents had been told of the importance of vaccinating their babies and the consequences if they didn't.

"We know about these in terms of developing brain swelling or Encephalitis [inflammation of the brain].