Prominent Northland doctor Lance O'Sullivan has hit out at the country's current response to the measles outbreak.
O'Sullivan has reiterated his call for New Zealand to adopt Australia's "no jab, no pay" strategy and introduce a higher tax rate for those who do not vaccinate their children.
"You've got to hit both ends of the spectrum here. It's not just about welfare bashing," he said.
O'Sullivan made the comments in an interview with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB, and said the Government's "kid gloves" needed to come off.
"We actually have to take the kid gloves off and say the country and the society needs people that lead and sometimes that means making decisions that are bold and courageous and sometimes not that popular."
His comments come as the number of confirmed cases of measles in the country reached 937, 804 of them in Auckland.
South Auckland had been hit particularly hard, and hundreds of unvaccinated Manurewa High School students have been told to stay home.
People most affected by the outbreak have been children and those aged between 13 and 19.
Middlemore Hospital has established a dedicated "measles ward" to deal with the influx of children admitted each day with the vaccine-preventable illness.
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Young babies were the most vulnerable, and the first MMR vaccine has been brought forward from 15 to 12 months in Auckland to try to address this.
Health officials are urging people to get vaccinated and the government activated a national response late last week. The head of Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital warned some children were likely to die because of the outbreak.
More than 50 schools in the Auckland region and "similar" numbers of early childhood centres have dealt with measles this year.
Principals of all Auckland high schools have also been warned to check students' vaccination records as the country's annual winter sports tournament week approached.
On Saturday, a guest with the highly contagious virus at the St Peter's College ball put hundreds of students at risk of contracting the illness.
When asked about what he would say to anti-vaxxers, O'Sullivan said anti-vaxxers should "go and live on an island".
"This bunch of haters, wreckers and scaremongerers are out there causing harm."
O'Sullivan said the country ultimately needed to have a firmer position on the immunisation of children, telling Hosking New Zealand was headed for a measles epidemic.
