Northland District Health Board is urging more parents to sign consent forms for their children's meningitis vaccinations.
The board has confirmed a woman who died last week was killed by meningococcal C for which mass vaccinations are underway.
It was the third death in Northland caused by the C strain since July and the ninth case.
Medical Officer of Health Clair Mills says nurses have vaccinated hundreds of school pupils in the past week, but in some schools only half the consent forms have come back.
She says it's important that parents take the risk to their children seriously and make an effort to sign and return the forms.
Dr Mills says the meningococcal vaccine on offer in Northland is very safe, and widely-used in Britain and other countries where the C strain is more common.
