The father of a baby whose limbs were amputated after she got meningococcal disease made a heartfelt plea to parents today to have their children vaccinated.

Seven-month-old Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman of Waiheke Island had her legs, hands and part of her arms amputated on Friday, just weeks after she got the disease.

Her father, Perry Bisman, today urged other parents to get their children immunised. A $200 million meningococcal vaccine programme begins next month aiming to get the vaccine to more than a million people between six months and 20 years old.

"Having seen the devastation of this disease and what it does to the human body, I would definitely urge people to go ahead and have their children vaccinated," Mr Bisman told One News.

"It's definitely worth the risk."

The disease has killed 220 people since an epidemic began in 1991 and seriously affected thousands more.

Other parents say that any vaccine is a risk to give a child. Sometimes it can give them side effects, and make them sick with something else.

They prefer to tell their children not to share food, and to give them healthy food, and hope they don't catch the disease.