New Zealand has exported measles cases to the United States, according to the American Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

A report from the CDC published at the beginning of the month, showed that two American measles cases were imported from New Zealand.

While the overall number was small, New Zealand exported more measles cases to the US than countries like China, India, and Australia, despite far larger numbers of those countries' citizens travelling to the US.

National's associate health spokesperson, Shane Reti, said the numbers showed the seriousness of the outbreak. Reti called on Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter to reinstate health targets including targets for vaccinations.

"They are being quality checked at the moment and should be ready for distribution early next week," Genter said.

The number of confirmed measles cases in New Zealand this year stood at 1681 as of last Friday, that is more than 400 higher than the number of cases recorded in the entire United States this year (although those figures only extend to September).

The CDC report showed China and India each exported one case to the United States, while Australia exported none.

In 2018, the year before the measles cases were reported, China sent 2.9 million tourists to the United states, nearly 10 times as many as New Zealand, which sent 306,566.

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India and Australia each sent roughly1.36 million tourists to the United States last year.

Roughly 360,000 Americans visited New Zealand last year.

Genter rejected the claim the targets had been gotten rid of, noting that target data was still collected.

"It shows that immunisation rates started decreasing under the previous government," Genter said.

"The target was not met under the previous government because targets don't immunise children. Having a functional health system does.

"Having enough nurses and doctors on the ground does. More than double the amount of vaccines have been delivered this year, and we are on track for even more people to get immunised," she said.

The most recent data from New Zealand shows this year's measles outbreak may have peaked.

There were three small outbreaks in January and February. The WHO issued a warning to all Pacific health ministers about the re-emergence of measles in April.

Infection numbers remained low until July, when they began to peak. In mid-September, the worst week for infections this year, a full 165 people were infected.

The number of new cases appears to have peaked, with 120 cases reported last week.