The Green Party says the fact that the meningitis B vaccine has not been fully tested is a serious concern.
Deputy Director of Public Health Don Matheson answered questions about the vaccine before the health select committee on Wednesday.
Green's health spokesperson Sue Kedgley says she was disturbed to learn that the vaccine did not undergo phase three clinical trials.
She says Matheson told the committee the reason the Health Ministry had decided to proceed with the vaccine was because of the urgency of the situation.
Matheson, says parents have been informed about the efficacy of the vaccine. He says says very similar vaccines have been used worldwide and New Zealand consulted international experts before going ahead with it.
"The fact that a similar vaccine was fully tested in Norway 15 years ago does not justify introducing a new vaccine targeted at more than a million children without the proper safety and efficacy data," Kedgley says.
She says such trials are usually considered essential to ensure a medicine's safety and efficacy and the Ministry of Health is introducing a new vaccine to more than a million children without the proper safety data.
However, Kedgley was pleased at the health minister's assurance that no parent or child should be pressured or coerced into having the vaccine, or given only 24 hours to make up their minds whether or not to give the vaccine to their children.
