An anti-vaccination billboard pictured at the Middlemore Hospital off ramp on Auckland's southern motorway.

An anti-vaccination billboard, which prompted a flurry of complaints, will be brought to the ASA Complaints Board next week.

The billboard, beside the Ōtāhuhu off ramp and close to Middlemore Hospital, featured a man holding a baby and the question: "If you knew the ingredients in a vaccine, would you RISK it?"

It was put up by the Warnings About Vaccine Expectations (WAVES NZ) organisation on October 1 for 'Vaccine Injury Awareness Month'.

After a flurry of complaints, it was removed late afternoon the next day.

READ MORE:

* Anti-vaccine billboard which received 140 complaints to be pulled

* To frame anti-vaccine rhetoric as 'debate' is dangerous and wrong

* Doctor leaps on stage at anti-vaccination movie and blasts those gathered

For Elliot Beech, who has been in and out of hospital for most of her life, and for medical reasons cannot be immunised against illnesses such as whooping cough or chicken pox, herd immunity is vital to her health.



Herd immunity requires a large proportion of the community to be immunised to protect the children who can't be immunised themselves, such as newborns, those undergoing chemotherapy and those who are allergic.



Infectious diseases move through populations by infecting people who are not immune to the disease and then spreading onwards.

SUPPLIED Elliot Beech cannot be immunised for medical reasons and herd immunity is the best way to keep her safe.

Wellington father Jarrod Baker, said the anti-vaccination message was potentially dangerous for his two-year-old daughter Elliot, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour.

"We have got accustomed to the idea that we need to be responsible and can't trust that other people have taken the steps to protect themselves and others. It's quite frustrating because you see it come up again and again.



"We know that fear doesn't work and people spreading this message are looking to disbelieve information from immunisation experts," Baker said.



He said it was hard to know how to combat misinformation like that on the billboard in question.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) chief executive Hilary Souter said the incident was an "unusual area" for the board.

In a statement on Tuesday, WAVES NZ spokesperson Truly Godfrey said the organisation would be defending the complaints to the ASA.

"We believe that broad reading, including medication datasheets and the ingredients of every drug, or vaccine, should be the very basis of informed consent in any medical procedure," Godfrey said.

The billboard will be judged as a case of advocacy advertising, which is often characterised by parties having differing views that are sometimes expressed in robust terms.

However, opinion should be clearly distinguishable from factual information.

The appropriateness of advocacy advertising is also guided by Rule 11 of the Advertising Code of Ethics. The Complaints Board will make a decision whether any code has been breached.

Another controversial billboard settled by the board was from the New Zealand Aids Foundation.

The "Love Your Condom" advertisement showed a picture of a man dressed in boxing attire and said, in part: "Getting in the ring? Gear Up #loveyourcondom."

The complaint was not upheld.

Souter said there had been more complaints about the anti-vaccine billboard since Tuesday, when it was removed, but 140 complaints would remain the number presented to the board.

WAVES NZ has been approached for a response and the board would meet when that was received, she said.