O'Sullivan, who has made headlines before his work in rural health, jumped on stage at a screening of the movie Vaxxed in Kaitaia.

It was reported health professionals were at the screening of an anti-vaccination film Vaxxed in Kaitaia on Monday.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan, who took the stage to protest the movie, said if he was their boss, he would sack them.

In a live chat yesterday with Stuff, O'Sullivan confirmed there were health professionals at the screening, and said in his view that was "incompatible with their duty to provide the best possible care to the most vulnerable in our community".

MONIQUE FORD / Stuff.co.nz Dr Lance O'Sullivan, Northland, says why he jumped on stage at a screening of the movie Vaxxed in Kaitaia.

"If I was their boss I would fire them," he said.

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The film, about the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, was directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield - an author of the retracted 1998 study which wrongly suggested the link.

Although the film mentions the retraction, it fails to mention Wakefield's medical licence was also revoked, owing to ethics violations and financial conflicts of interest.

Despite this, in the film he appears as an expert on the topic.

Nikki Turner, the director of New Zealand's Immunisation Advisory Centre and chair of the World Health Organisation's committee for measles and rubella elimination, said the film was premised on "scare tactics".

O'Sullivan, a Northland medical practitioner who won the New Zealander of the year accolade in 2014, vented his anger at the anti-vaccination movement on stage on Monday.

"I come here with a lot of anger ... and that's because I am adamantly opposed to this because this position, this idea of anti-immunisation has killed children around the world and actually will continue to kill children ... whose parents are put off immunisation because of misinformation - misinformation based on lies, quite frankly."

Speaking to Stuff afterwards, he said he always intended to protest at the presence of the group in his town, and he challenged those in other communities to do the same.

A reduction nationally in immunisation rates in the last two quarters worried him, he said.

"There is a natural suspicion to the establishment in my opinion in certain sections of our society and these groups are very vulnerable to campaigns of misinformation...

"There are really minimal adverse reactions to immunisations and if you compare this to the significant benefit conveyed to these children there is no doubt we should protect our children in this manner."

When asked if he thought vaccines should be mandated as a public health necessity, he said: "That is a great question! We do this in other areas already. It is compulsory to have your child in a car seat and have a seatbelt on because it saves lives. Immunisations should be no different. Lets start the debate!"

He said he didn't need to watch the film because there was "no credible evidence" behind it.

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