Influenza announcements

June 2023

Pēpi enrolment in primary care - survey invitation – 28 June 2023

Healthcare workers are invited to participate in a survey on the challenges they face when enrolling and engaging whānau and their pēpi in primary care. The survey – led by researchers from the University of Auckland and University of Otago – aims to identify primary care actions which will support timely immunisation and protection of tamariki Māori from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Partnering with Hāpai te Hauora, researchers will engage with healthcare workers and whānau whose pēpi were not enrolled within seven weeks of birth to better understand their experiences. Participants will be asked to share their knowledge and opinions about the newborn enrolment process, and what they think is working and what is not.

The survey results will help inform decisions, policies, and practices for the health sector and offer new strategies to address equity gaps, say lead researchers Dr Amber Young (University of Otago) and Dr Samantha Marsh (senior research fellow with the Immunisation Advisory Centre).

Pēpi Māori experience low and late immunisation compared with other children, which exposes them to the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. Pēpi Māori who are not enrolled with primary healthcare services are less likely to receive their 6-week immunisations on time and are delayed in their protection from diseases.

Who can participate in the survey: Anyone working in a general practice or a community setting looking after a newborn's health and the health of their whānau, either in a clinical or non-clinical role.

Duration of the survey: The survey should take around 10 minutes to complete. Respondents will have the option to go into the draw to win one of five Prezzie Cards.

More information: Please see the Participant Information Sheet, click here, or if you would like to speak with a member of the research team, please get in touch with Dr Amber Young: amber.young@otago.ac.nz

Click here to complete the survey:
https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Jf5sIZvmnyDn3o

IMAC Webinar: Vaccinating Health Worker (VHW) role – 28 June 2023

Date: Wednesday 5 July 2023
Time: 12pm-1pm
To attend: This is a Teams live event, please follow this link to attend

Te Whatu Ora is hosting a webinar to give an overview on the Vaccinating Health Worker (VHW) role and the new Stage 2 vaccine preparation training now available. The webinar is for any potential or current employers of VHWs, their supervisors or VHWs themselves. The webinar will cover:

Overview of the VHW role
Details on the new VHW Stage 2 vaccine preparation training
Change to the Practical Assessor criteria
Q&A

Note: Please ensure you have downloaded Microsoft Teams on the device you will be viewing the webinar on, prior to the event.

IMAC Webinar: Vaccinating in Pharmacy – 28 June 2023

Date: Thursday 6 July 2023
Time: 6pm-7pm
To attend: Please register here https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_k35y0X8fQLSGjkhTFO_UDw

IMAC is hosting a webinar for pharmacists on July 6 from 6pm-7pm. It will focus on the removal of Xpharm restrictions, enabling increased accessibility to vaccines in the pharmacy setting.

The webinar will provide a recap of clinical information and pharmacy scope for the following vaccines: Bexsero (Meningococcal B); MenQuadfi (Meningococcal ACYW); Gardasil (HPV) and Shingrix (Varicella zoster), along with a recap of MMR (measles mumps and rubella) and Boostrix (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis).

The panellists will include IMAC’s Programme Manager Jane Morphet, Clinical Advice Team Lead Victoria Rameke, and E-Learning & E C Coordinator Sally Schnauer.

Please click the link above to register for this webinar. A Zoom recording will be made available on the IMAC website by Monday 10 July.

By Pacific for Pacific – 21 June 2023

In collaboration with Pacific Public Health and Pacific Health, phase two of the by Pacific for Pacific flu and COVID-19 vaccine campaigns were launched this week to encourage Pacific people across the country to get a flu and COVID-19 vaccination to protect their families and their communities.

‘Shoo the flu’ campaign uses light humour to engage the target audience and deliver an empowering clear message for Pacific families to get rid of the flu by getting the flu jab. A series of video reels have been released on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube. This is being supported with advertising across a variety of settings, such as malls, community and sports venues, bus stops and train stations and healthcare clinics. Advertising on bus backs and within buses and trains will also be added from next week.

Informed by recent research and ongoing community feedback, the Get boosted covid campaign uses avatars to reflect the various groups that are eligible for an extra booster. A series of printed and digital posters for each of the avatar groups have been developed and are available as social tiles. A 30-second vox pop video of Pacific people sharing their ‘why’ for getting their COVID-19 jab has also been shared on social media.
Radio ads and radio talanoa for both flu and COVID-19 vaccines have been released in the nine Pacific languages with the help of Pacific clinicians and community leaders answering community Q and A’s each week.

Printed A5 flyers with key information about flu and COVID-19 vaccines will be available in English and also in the nine Pacific languages. Pacific provider and community led vaccination events are being supported to help inform and mobilise Pacific communities to get flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Dropbox links to access available resources

Shoo the flu campaign folder (videos, social tiles, poster) Dropbox – Pacific Shoo the flu campaign
Get Boosted campaign folder (videos, social tiles, poster) Dropbox – Pacific Get Boosted campaign

From 19 June, you can go to Bluestar to order printed resources for the flu and COVID-19 vaccine collateral (A3 posters and A5 flyers). It is free of charge to order until stocks last.

Reimbursement for Flu vaccinations for non-Te Whatu Ora client and patient facing staff – 21 June 2023

Reimbursement for the costs of immunising eligible staff for flu vaccinations is available to employers via the Influenza Reimbursement Portal until 13 October 2023.

We would like to remind and encourage employers of non-Te Whatu Ora health and disability workers with patient and client facing roles to take up this opportunity through the Influenza Reimbursement Portal. The Portal opened on 4 April 2023 and runs until 13 October 2023.

More information is available here.

Direct communications campaign – 21 June 2023

From 19 June the National Programme will commence communications nationally to approximately 500,000 eligible Māori and Pacific people aged 18-54 via email, SMS or physical letter about the flu vaccine. This will complement theexisting By Māori for Māori campaign ‘We on!’ which was showcased in the pānui on 1 June, and By Pacific for Pacific ‘Shoo the flu’ campaign.

The call to action will encourage people to get a flu jab at their doctor or local chemist or hauora Māori partner (for Māori cohorts). A link will be included to immunise.health.nz or they can call 0800 28 29 26 for more info. There will also be a link to Book My Vaccine.

We are anticipating a 5% uptake rate for this campaign, helping to immunise an additional 25,000 people against influenza.

One million flu doses administered during nationwide immunisation push – 7 June 2023

Last week, the 1 millionth flu dose was administered, and more than 1.4 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed to meet the demand in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have reached the one-millionth dose earlier than we did in 2022 and that is a testament to the collective effort across the sector.

A news item has been published on Te Whatu Ora website.

May 2023

CIR update to influenza needle options – 31 May 2023

To support the 2023 Influenza campaign an update has been made to the needle type options when recording a flu vaccination on the COVID-19 Immunisation Register (CIR).

The update enables you to select one of the eight needle types when recording a flu vaccination on CIR.

If you need a guide to selecting appropriate needles for consumers, refer to the immunisation Handbook.

Off site Flu Vaccination Reminder – 31 May 2023

Some providers keep a supply of influenza vaccines in a clinical room for ease of administration (on-site immunisation).

Many providers conduct off-site immunisation clinics at workplaces, aged care facilities, or community events. The influenza vaccine needs to be stored between +2°C and +8°C at all times.

Temperature-monitored chilly bins must be used to store vaccines when they are not in the provider's pharmaceutical refrigerator.

Now is a good time to check you have everything in place. Do a test run to confirm that the chilly bin temperature can be maintained between +2°C and +8°C throughout the entire time vaccines are being stored outside your refrigerator. Contact your Immunisation/Cold Chain Coordinator if you require assistance.

Freezing is your biggest risk when using a chilly bin as the damage is immediate, not cumulative. It is important to make sure your vaccines are safely insulated from the ice packs.

Flu and Covid-19 vaccination television commercials – 31 May 2023

Two television commercials have been created in partnership between Te Aka Whai Ora and Te Whatu Ora to encourage Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. The intention of the ads is to show Māori in recognisable environments and lived experiences while portraying a degree of humour and then finish with the immunisation message. We've chosen this format so that immunisation is not overbearing in the individual’s mind but the ad is memorable and gives whānau a subtle reminder to go and get their immunisation.

The first of the commercials aired last night and is intended to reach Māori audiences in key programming across TVNZ, Discovery, Sky and Māori TV. It will be supported by online video-on-demand to efficiently extend reach amongst target audience. It will include a modest radio layer to extend the campaign across Iwi stations, Mai and Flava will bolster the campaign launch.

There will be some targeted digital outdoor small format media, will skew towards Māori population, across the four districts, using placements which will not be subject to vandalism.

This is one component of our focused COVID-19 and Flu campaign. A range of other assets for providers are being developed to support their (and your) efforts, which we hope to have available over the coming days. Additional assets for our Pasifika campaign will be available next week.

To watch the Flu vaccination Ad, Click here

To watch the Covid vaccination Ad, Click here

King's birthday and Matariki public holidays (Book My Vaccine) – 24 May 2023

An update has been made to all sites to close appointments on the King’s Birthday (Monday 5 June) and Matariki (Friday 14 July) public holidays.

If you would like to offer vaccination appointments on either/both of these public holidays, please email help@imms.min.health.nz to request that your appointment schedule(s).

Extension of Book My Vaccine closing date for appointments – 24 May 2023

The closing date for appointments on BMV can now be extended to 28 February 2024.

To assist you, all active sites with a closing date of 30 June 2023 will automatically be extended to 28 February 2024. This change is planned for the evening of 7 June.

If you do not want the closing date for your location(s) to be automatically extended to 28 February 2024, before 6 June you must either:
• Change your closing date from 30 June 2023 to your required closing date. If you are a site admin user, you can change the date in the ‘Closing Date’ field for your site. You will find the ‘Closing Date’ field within the ‘Information’ section of the ‘Details’ sub-section of the ‘Location’. If you have more than one appointment schedule, you must update the closing date on each location.
• Email help@imms.min.health.nz and request support to update your closing date or to opt-out of the extension.
If your site is no longer active or available to accept appointments, please adjust the status to pending or email a request to the help desk to decommission your site.

Please be sure to generate any required overrides for time that differs from your default calendar – for example, the weeks between and around Christmas and New Years Day.

Continued flu campaign for general public – 23 May 2023

As winter approaches, we are continuing to encourage all New Zealanders to get their flu vaccination to protect themselves, their whānau and communities.

From 22 May, Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora will build on the current flu focus with Phase Two of the flu advertising campaign aimed at the general public.

Phase Two of the flu campaign will include:

Television advertising – TVNZ, Mediaworks, Sky TV
Radio advertising – mainstream, Māori and Pasifika
Digital media and social campaign
Social media videos by Māori for Māori, and by Pacific for Pacific
A culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) radio layer to maximise reach to ethnic communities.

Posters, flyers, social media tiles will also be available on NIP Dropbox, including, by Māori for Māori and by Pacific for Pacific from 29 May.

New pregnancy immunisation collateral – 18 May 2023

There is new pregnancy immunisation collateral in the Dropbox: Dropbox - Pregnancy Immunisation

Vaccine types included on these resources include Boostrix, Influenza, and COVID-19.

These are currently orderable via the Bluestar portal.

Flu Whakarongorau calls continuing – 17 May 2023

Whakarongorau is continuing to deliver follow up influenza vaccine phone calls with a priority focus to Māori and Pacifica aged 55-years and over and all others aged 65-years and over.

These calls are a direct follow-up to those people that received SMS and email messages as part of our wider flu campaign strategy. To date the contact rates have been great with call connections averaging 30 percent.

Feedback has been really positive with the ability to now connect callers to appointments through Book My Vaccine, and where appropriate provide COVID-19 and flu vaccination at the same appointment.

New childhood immunisation resources – 10 May 2023

By Māori for Māori
In collaboration with Te Aka Whai Ora, new Māori specific childhood immunisation resources promoting the benefits of immunisation are now available on Dropbox - Childhood immunisation - Simplify your life.
There are three videos that you are encouraged to share widely:

The first video is with Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen who takes the sting out of immunisation by explaining how they keep us safe. He also provides the ingoa Māori for immunisation which is ‘he rongoā ārai mate’ which translates to a medicine that prevents illness.
The second video provides some new kupu for immunisations like polio, rotavirus and measles.
The third video is reo rua and a kōhanga reo whānau explaining the importance of looking after tamariki and mokopuna and why they chose to get their pepi immunised.

Four social media tiles are also available in poster print format and digital screen displays to promote immunisation. Each poster has a different message, including: Get your immunisations up to date, Keeping your mokopuna safe and Protecting our tamariki for life.
Posters can also be ordered via Bluestar.

By Pacific for Pacific
In partnership with Pacific Public Health, Pacific-specific childhood immunisation resources have been developed to engage Pacific parents and families, to help prioritise immunisations for their children. The resources include two short videos and posters of Pacific parents prioritising their children’s immunisations while balancing their family responsibilities. An additional poster has been developed with professional rugby player, Dhys Faleafaga, with her twin boys.

The videos, posters and social tiles are available on Dropbox and the posters can be printed and ordered via Bluestar portal.

Posters will be available in the Bluestar portal and can be ordered. Once on the portal, orders will go on backorder until the stock is printed.

Influenza vaccine messaging from CIR to General Practice PMS – 10 May 2023

Multiple general practices have reported that Influenza vaccination records are not messaging to GP PMS systems. We have received a response regarding this issue below:

“There is a known issue with the transfer of certain GP notifications through to the GP PMS systems. This relates to changes in the new vaccine types and doses and the technical teams are working with PMS vendors to get the correct integrations to get this resolved. We are currently unsure of the timing for this to be resolved but understand the urgency and need to get this progressed.” – Programme Manager, National Immunisation Programme

Delay in AIR recording – 10 May 2023

When vaccines are recorded in AIR there can be a delay (up to 4 hours) impacting 10-15% of profiles where they are not displaying immediately in the vaccination history. The AIR team are aware, and it is in the process of being resolved. It is a small number of records being impacted.

When the vaccinator goes in and they record the vaccination event they will get a green tick at the end, they can be confident the vaccination has been recorded in AIR.

Mental health information added to 2023 flu kit booklet – 10 May 2023

The new information, on the importance of influenza vaccination for those with serious mental health conditions, has been included to support health professionals in increasing influenza vaccination uptake. A new 27 March 2023 version of the flu kit booklet with this addition is available on this webpage influenza.org.nz/resources/resources

Background
Pharmac introduced a new funded influenza vaccination eligibility criteria from 1 July 2022.

People under 65 years of age who have any of the following serious mental health conditions:

schizophrenia, or
major depressive disorder, or
bipolar disorder, or
schizoaffective disorder
and/or are currently accessing secondary or tertiary mental health and addiction services.

Mental health
Historically, individuals with serious mental health illnesses have faced comparatively low access to preventative vaccination programmes, despite the significant health risks associated with this group.

There is longstanding literature to support the notion of psychological distress as a barrier to preventative medical care. A recent US study examining the association between mental distress and influenza vaccination coverage found that individuals with mental illness had a lower likelihood of receiving the seasonal influenza vaccination. In addition, the study notes that individuals with mental health disorders are at an increased risk of comorbid health conditions that predispose them to severe complications associated with influenza disease.

Similar studies examining the influence of maternal mental illness on childhood vaccination uptake found that the likelihood of a child completing recommended vaccinations by the age of two and five years old was significantly lower among children with maternal mental illness, compared to children with mothers without mental illness.

In New Zealand, 2020–2021 COVID-19 vaccination uptake data showed that a two-dose COVID-19 vaccination rate across DHB specialist mental health and addiction services was approximately 30% compared to 48% of the eligible population.

This widening of access is a permanent addition to the Pharmaceutical Schedule. For more information see:
https://pharmac.govt.nz/news-and-resources/news/2022-06-27-media-release-pharmac-widens-flu-vaccine-access-to-increase-uptake/

Disability access resources – 10 May 2023

We are pleased to let you know that the following accessibility resources are now on Dropbox as well as on the IMAC influenza website www.influenza.org.nz for use at vaccinating sites and pop ups. These resources have been created by the CCHV District who have kindly shared with you all.
As these are also helpful for non-vaccinating operations, we encourage you to share these widely.

Disability Guidance for flu vaccination sites – a guidance document that outlines what a site needs to know and do to ensure vaccinations are accessible
Providing Equitable Access poster for staff – please place somewhere visible for staff to refer to quickly
Alternative Pathway Sign – please use this to identify a specific location in your facility for people to go to if they need extra time, space or assistance
Hello I’m Deaf and Hello I’m Hard of Hearing Communication Cards – please make these visible and available to people entering the facility so that they can choose one if they need to, and offer them to anyone who has indicated they are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Name and pronoun cards – please make these visible and available to people entering the facility so that they can use one if they need to
Communication Cards Posters – please place somewhere visible to alert people that the communication cards are available.

April 2023

Resources ordering through the Bluestar Portal – 2 May 2023

Bluestar, the organisation responsible for printing and distributing vaccination resources, is currently low on stock of both HP8682 After Your Flu Vaccination and HP8591 After Your Covid Vaccination resources and are unable to fulfil orders for the next couple weeks. If you require assistance, please contact Lachlan.Winter@southerndhb.govt.nz or 034769977.

Reminder: it remains very important to complete a full informed consent process prior to vaccination and to provide clear post-vaccination information for clients to photograph or take away. If you do not have these resources on hand please get in touch. You can also print these resources from the National Immunisation Programme Dropbox.

Second checker course now live via the IMAC Learning Portal – 24 April 2023

The Second-Checker course is now available via the IMAC website and registration is free.

The course is approximately 2 hours long, completed online, includes an assessment, and on completion generates a certificate.
Access is via IMAC’s new LMS – Second Checker Course (LINK)

Who it is for
This course is designed for non-registered team members such as kaiāwhina, health care assistants, administration staff, pharmacy technicians and assistants to enable them to complete independent specific checks of the vaccine preparation process in settings where there may be limited clinical staff onsite.

The primary aim
The primary aim of the Second Checker role is to reduce the risk of vaccine errors. The authorised vaccinator (a registered health professional) has overall responsibility for checking vaccines before administration to a consumer, however, a team member that completes the Second Checker course can work alongside the registered vaccinator to support accuracy.

Free access to all healthcare professionals
This is an amazing resource for non-clinical staff to get involved in the vaccinating space, and support clinical staff.
However, we encourage authorised vaccinators, and other clinicians to also complete this free course to understand the content, and what this course enables a second checker to do. It is a good refresher for us all.

Flu reimbursement portal – 18 April 2023

Te Whatu Ora encourages health and disability care employers to ensure their patient and client-facing staff are vaccinated against influenza. Reimbursement for the costs of immunising eligible staff is available to employers via the Influenza Reimbursement Scheme Claim Portal. The reimbursement scheme will be available from 1 May 2022 to 30 September 2022.

Please follow the sign-up steps in the user guide attached to create an account. Claims can then be submitted by an employer through the online portal: https://healthproviderrequests.powerappsportals.com/

Workplace vaccinations

A workplace vaccinator can come to your workplace to administer vaccines on-site and can often be scheduled to work around an organisation’s needs and timetables. A list of workplace vaccinators and contact details is available here: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and- illnesses/influenza/flu-influenza-vaccines/flu-jabs-information-employers

Need help or further information?

If you have any questions, email help@imms.min.health.nz or phone 0800 223 987 (select from one of the initial options, then press 2 for flu vaccinations). More information is available here: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/influenza

Childhood Immunisation Campaign – 18 April 2023

From mid-April, the National Immunisation Programme will be running an advertising campaign across the motu, promoting childhood immunisations. The campaign is led with two different TV adverts, updating last years “Acts of Aroha” creative with charming scenes of parents and caregivers protecting their tamaraki.

The objectives of the marketing communications for Childhood Immunisation are to:

Ensure parents and caregivers prioritise immunising their tamariki
Are aware that immunising their child is the most effective way to protect them from serious diseases
Understand that their child needs certain immunisations at specific times throughout their life
Reassure them that if any recommended vaccinations are missed, they can catch up

A suite of communications activities intended to prioritise whānau who have fallen behind their scheduled vaccinations has been developed.

Appearing on mainstream free-to-air channels, Sky TV, and Māori television, as well as TVNZ+ and ThreeNOW, the TV media will run until 4th June. TV will be supported by targeted YouTube and online video placements, as well as screens in medical centres, partner packs, collateral updates, and immunise.health.nz.

Tik Tok video promotion
NIP recently collaborated with a Pacific social media influencer to help promote childhood immunisations messages.
Dhys Faleafaga is a former Black Ferns sevens player, now playing for the Chiefs and has over 250k Tik Tok followers. Dhys, together with her partner Tone Ng Shiu (current All Blacks sevens player), developed a Tik Tok video with their twin babies with the prioritise to immunise message. After one week, the Tik Tok video had over 180k views and over 25k likes. You can watch it here.

www.immunise.health.nz
Website was launched mid-March 2023 that provides a hub for parents with all the information they need to make the best decision to get tamariki immunised and to catch up where appointments have been missed.

The Immunisation Pānui
The Immunisation Pānui contains updates on direct marketing, advertising, etc. and access to the Immunisation Dropbox which contains all collateral:

If you do not receive this but would like to be on the list, send an email to Sandy Thambiah (Sandy.Thambiah@health.govt.nz)
Here is the Dropbox link for all immunisation collateral: Dropbox: National Immunisation Programme – immunisation collateralThis is also li nked in the Key Links section at the top of this page.

Book My Vaccine: flu age limits, resources and reminders – 17 April 2023

*If you are closed on ANZAC Day, 26 April, please remember to switch off BMV bookings for that day*

Flu age limits
Book My Vaccine (BMV) is currently set to allow for Influenza bookings for ages 3 years and over. Based on feedback from vaccinating sites, we will be adding age range options for facilities to better display age groups your site can cater for when vaccinating against influenza.

From 27th April, the age range options for vaccinating influenza will be expanded to include:

6 months and older
3 years and older
5 years and older
12 years and older

Existing Book My Vaccine facilities:
Please complete the form found here by 21st April to specify which age range applies to your facility. This form will only take 1-2 minutes to complete and should be completed by all sites, even if the age range at your site remains the same. Our team will use this information ensure the correct set-up in BMV in advance of 27th April.
Any change requests from 21-27 April will need to be sent to the help desk. From 27th April, users will have the ability to self-manage their vaccinating age range through the BMV admin portal.
New Book My Vaccine facilities:
We have updated the sign-up form so new facilities can select the applicable age range. Please note that the new age ranges will only be available from 27th April. Bookings made at your site prior to that date will need to be monitored (see below).
Managing bookings made before 27th April 2023:
It’s important to note that until 27th April, consumers will be able to book vaccines based on the existing age range set against your facility. If you have made changes to the age range services you provide, you may have existing childhood bookings or new childhood bookings made before 27th April that need to be managed.
To manage these bookings, you can check the BMV admin portal by opening the Next 7 Days Appointment report and sorting by birthdate. Once you have identified any childhood bookings, you can decide whether to contact the child’s parent or guardian to manage the booking.
Please note that it is the site’s responsibility to ensure the consumer is accommodated appropriately if you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment.

Booking Schedules
We have received some concerns about bookings not being honoured due to incorrect booking schedules being displayed by providers or low availability of stock. To ensure a positive consumer experience, we want to provide some useful reminders and tips:

Log in to the BMV admin portal regularly to view upcoming appointments: Flu, and flu & COVID (combined) appointments will not appear in AIR or CIR. To see an updated list of appointments for the day, it's important providers log in to BMV. Consumers can make same-day bookings or cancellations, so any appointments showing as scheduled may change throughout the day.
Publicly funded vaccinations: If you only offer publicly funded vaccinations and do not have the ability to take payments for vaccinations, please ensure your site has been updated on BMV and Healthpoint with this information. Add a 'Cannot take payments' location tag in BMV and include payment information in the description.
Public holidays: These are not automatically blocked off in BMV, meaning consumers can still book appointments. If your site is not open on a public holiday, the site admin must place a manual override on the schedule to prevent consumers booking appointments. If there are existing appointments scheduled for that day, it is the site's responsibility to manage rescheduling using the BMV website. We recommend that providers plan ahead and review all future public holidays, including Anzac Day (April 25), King's Birthday (June 5), Matariki (July 14), and any other regional anniversary days, to ensure consumer bookings can only be made during open operating hours.
Rebooking consumer appointments: Consumers are not automatically rescheduled if a clinic is cancelled or modified. Sites are responsible for contacting consumers to manage any affected appointments.
Managing capacity: Please check regularly to ensure your available capacity is correct. Availability has been affected by increased demand due to use of BMV, public holidays, and supply chain disruption. Providers should make sure that they have enough stock available for consumer bookings and walk-ins.
Group bookings: Providers can view group bookings on CIR however will only see the booking arrangers details. Group bookings cannot be checked in, you will need to search for the consumer using their name or NHI.

Webinars
Thank you for registering for the BMV webinars and, if you were able to attend, for making the webinar series a success with your participation. Please find a video compilation of the last session here: https://mohnz.zoom.us/rec/share/Aa700OVe6M-AqxBhpWW-qJwXobCxx--6CSAxJEVUC-fjJhk4pclQECYFbQPgmQ_3.5WHbcV7EFe5sQP-I?startTime=1681366445000

The session starts at the 18 min mark.

The team will also be reviewing the questions asked in the three sessions and these will be included in the FAQ and future communications.

If you need further help support is available:
Drop-in Coaching: If you have questions and would like coaching with one of our team live, please join a drop-in Teams session. The team is available between 1pm and 1.45pm each weekday.
Email and Phone Support: The team is available to answer questions and provide support. Please email help@imms.min.health.nz or call 0800 223 987. These channels are currently monitored:

8am - 5pm, Monday to Friday (from 9.30am on Wednesdays)
9am - 2pm, Saturday and Sunday

If you are contacting via email (recommended), please provide a detailed description of the issue, your full name and your mobile number so we can contact you with a resolution

More information
Useful information about Book My Vaccine can be found on our website. This details the key changes for providers using Book My Vaccine.

Updated Immunisation Handbook v22 – 17 April 2023

On 11 April 2023, the Ministry of Health released version 22 of the Immunisation Handbook 2020.

You can find the handbook online here, or download it in full here. You can also find it in the Key Links section at the top of this page.

WEBINAR: World Hand Hygiene Day – 17 April 2023

Date: 27 April 2023
Time: 1pm-2pm
The webinar will be delivered via Zoom. Please email to register: hhnz@hqsc.govt.nz

Good hand hygiene is one of the simplest, most effective ways to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections, which makes it a key patient safety priority.

Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission (Te Tāhū Hauora) has led Hand Hygiene New Zealand (HHNZ), a national quality improvement programme to improve hand hygiene practice in Te Whatu Ora districts and private surgical hospitals throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme is part of the Te Tāhū Hauora infection prevention and control programme, which aims to reduce the harm and cost of healthcare-associated infections.

HHNZ uses the World Health Organization’s multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy to drive culture change and establish best hand hygiene practice for every patient, every time.
In this webinar, the audience will hear from three speakers about quality improvement projects that have been implemented successfully as part of a local HHNZ programme.
Please share this event page with your colleagues and networks.

Who should attend?
Anyone who is involved in an HHNZ programme, including: 

hand hygiene leads and coordinators
gold auditors
personnel working in quality and patient safety
infection prevention and control professionals.

Speakers

Cath Robbins – National Infection Prevention and Control Programme, Southern Cross Healthcare. Cath will share the campaign that the infection prevention and control team recently rolled out across the Southern Cross hospital network. The campaign uses refreshed hand hygiene posters and hand hygiene ambassadors to improve hand hygiene compliance.
Carmel Hurley-Watts – Waitaha Canterbury hand hygiene coordinator. Carmel will share the work undertaken in Waitaha Canterbury to improve hand hygiene access for patients and the district’s recent improvements with the visibility of their hand hygiene compliance rates.
Vicki McKenzie – Infection prevention and control nurse, Bidwell Trust Hospital. Vicki will describe how she introduced the concept of ‘Take a moment’ to allow for point-of-care feedback and reflection on missed hand hygiene moments.

Registration
The webinar will be delivered via Zoom. Please email to register: hhnz@hqsc.govt.nz
If you have questions about this event, please email: hhnz@hqsc.govt.nz.

Is your healthpoint up to date? – 12 April 2023

Healthpoint has developed its back-end functions to allow providers to better indicate the services they offer. This includes tick boxes for most vaccinations, as well as the ability to add any services that are not listed.

It is really important you keep your healthpoint page up to date with the services you offer, your hours and how people can book in or if walk-ins are available. Nationally led campaigns for a number of vaccinations direct people to healthpoint to find a service near them, and it is also used by Healthline to support consumers to access services. It is especially important for the visibility of those providers who are not using Book My Vaccine for flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

If you need support updating your page, contact helpdesk@healthpoint.co.nz.

Release of the Immunisation Taskforce report – 11 April 2023

On 6 April, the NIP released the Immunisation Taskforce Report. The Report provides advice to Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora on how we can best utilise our size and scale to rapidly improve immunisation rates for tamariki and achieve equity across all population groups. The Report includes 54 recommendations, all of which have been accepted by Te Whatu Ora, with 26 already underway.

The media release, which includes a link to the Immunisation Taskforce Report, is published on the Te Whatu Ora Website.

New collateral – 4 April 2023

COVID-19 and Flu collateral is now available in the Dropbox and to order on Bluestar. This year, the flu collateral including the highly anticipated flu and COVID combined consent form is available to download from the Influenza website Resources | Influenza - Immunisation & Vaccination Info, NSIG New Zealand.

On 31 March, NIP published a Winter Wellness FAQ document for the sector which you can find here.

Bluestar

All consent suites (consent forms and fact sheets) are available on Bluestar for pre-order, please allow 1-2 weeks to arrive.
When ordering stock from the Bluestar portal, please be mindful of how many units you order, each unit contains 25 sheets.
Please see section 7.3 of the Operating Guidelines for more information on ordering site collateral, or page 18 of the flu toolkit.

New Book My Vaccine site– 4 April 2023

How do I get my site signed up
We have had an excellent response from over 400 providers who will be using BMV to offer flu appointments this year. If you would like to sign up, please visit this website: Book My Vaccine – Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand. You will find the steps to sign up to offer flu appointments, download the form, find out who to ask for help and read the frequently asked questions.
Please direct all queries to our helpful support team via email help@imms.min.health.nz or call 0800 223 987.
If you have questions and need coaching, you can join drop-in sessions between 1pm and 1.45pm each weekday:

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 459 662 316 941
Passcode: R9Dm8A
Download Teams | Join on the web
Join with a video conferencing device
754254586@t.plcm.vc
Video Conference ID: 139 638 397 9
Alternate VTC instructions

We also encourage you to register for the upcoming 30-minute webinar to help you manage appointments and consumer bookings. You can select one of the three options: https://mohnz.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lVk6E8_4RO-bCwJTEgIS6g

Can it be just for flu or just for COVID?
Yes, you can choose to only offer flu appointments or only offer COVID-19 appointments. If you are already using BMV to offer COVID-19 appointments, you can add flu appointments. This means that you can also offer flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same appointment. Use the form to tell us which options you would like to offer. Interestingly of the current 3,000+ bookings for flu, over 80% are for flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time.

Can I restrict to our patients only?
Yes, you can request a private site with an access code. This location is not visible to the public but accessible by your patients when they add the code to Book My Vaccine. Use the form to tell us if you would like your site to be private and the help desk team will send you the access code for you to distribute to your patients.

For your info
The three key BMV changes for flu are:

You must manage your BMV listing directly. You are responsible for ensuring your schedule is correct and that you can honor bookings made by consumers. Ask the help desk team for tips on how to quickly and reschedule consumer bookings on their behalf.
Flu bookings are not visible in the CIR or AIR. You must log in to the BMV admin area to see who has booked.
Support is available from the central help desk. Your District is no longer responsible to make changes for you and provide support.

Reimbursement portal for flu vaccinations – 4 April 2023

The WHO, MoH and Te Whatu Ora all acknowledge the importance of and encourage all health and disability workers to be vaccinated against influenza annually, to protect themselves, their vulnerable patients and the health system over challenging winter months.

The criteria for non-district employed health and disability workers to have the cost of their Influezna vaccine reimbursed is:

Employer must submit an invoice on behalf of staff who qualify
Have direct patient/client contact
Are not eligible for a funded influenza vaccine i.e. Pharmac eligibility

If the criteria is met, the employer (or self-employed person e.g. LMC) can claim up to $35+GST for the cost of vaccine and administration.

The re-imbursement portal opens 4 April 2023.
The portal is the same as last year, so keep in mind you may already have an account.
Ensure you set up correctly to avoid delay in processing; use your legal trading name and submit all required forms.
If there is anything missing from the application, Te Whatu Ora will contact you via the registered email.
If you do not hear from Te Whatu Ora, you can assume you have applied via the portal correctly.
Claims can take up to 2 months to process to payment.
The portal closes on 14 October 2023. Incomplete claims or claims submitted after this date will not be processed.
On page 5 of the Flu Toolkit there is more information about the re-imbursement criteria.

Flu QR code posters and survey – 4 April 2023

Flu QR code is now live and available in the Dropbox, people who have their flu vaccination can now scan the QR code and register to participate in the survey. This is a great confidence tool to capture data, encourage people to engage in the survey, even if they experience no post-vaccination side effects.

The Bivalent vaccination PVSC is also starting, people being vaccinated will need to be made aware that they may be contacted via SMS 7 days after their vaccination to participate.
This also goes for people who receive both Bivalent and flu vaccination at the same time.

March 2023

New Immunisation website – 27 March 2023

We're pleased to let you know the new immunisation website – https://www.immunise.health.nz/ –is now live. This has been a real team effort with many partners, providers and stakeholders involved in getting us to this point.

This new Te Whatu Ora website has been developed to meet a critical gap in the information currently available online to whānau when making decisions about immunisations for their tamariki, rangatahi and themselves. It will also be a key component of a wider programme of focused communications to support our goal to increase childhood immunisation getting underway in April.

Although the site has a child immunisation focus – the content has been written to cover wider whānau immunisations too.
We hope the site feels relevant to all people living in Aotearoa New Zealand - and is warm, friendly, reassuring, and easy to understand.

A new tool we’re particularly excited about is the ability to create a personalised immunisation schedule for a child: https://www.immunise.health.nz/get-a-personalised-immunisation-schedule/

Please take some time to look around and feedback on anything – whether positive or negative. We’re particularly keen to hear what you think might be missing. This is the first phase and we will continue to build on the foundation it presents.

At the moment we’re sharing the site with the sector in order to gather feedback, and in a couple of weeks, we’ll start to actively drive traffic to the site. We look forward to hearing what you think.

Important updates of flu campaign – 21 March 2023

With flu vaccinations available from 1 April, there are several important operational considerations and reminders that may be of relevance to you depending on your role in the immunisation space:

Book My Vaccine
The public can now use Book My Vaccine to book appointments for their flu vaccinations as well as their COVID-19 vaccinations. Many flu vaccination sites will only be visible to consumers from 31 March. If you receive queries about this from the public, please encourage them to check Book My Vaccine and make a flu booking from 1 April. Also a reminder that if you are offering the flu vaccine, please click here to learn how you can include your location and appointments on the site. Key messages and Q&As are attached to this email.

Dropbox
The consent form, policy statement, IMAC flu kit and fact sheet will soon be available in Dropbox. Additional flu collateral is still being developed and we will also make these available as soon as possible. Please check our Dropbox next week for these.

Other vaccinations
When administering the flu vaccine, it’s an ideal time to discuss other vaccinations with customers including COVID-19, MMR, and Boostrix for hapū māmā in particular.

Claiming for staff vaccinations
Non-district health and disability workers will be able to claim for staff vaccinations via the portal from 4 April 2023 until mid-October 2023.

Ordering needles
If you’re a vaccination provider, don’t forget to order needles in preparation for the flu season. A reminder that Afluria Quad, Afluria Quad Jnr and FluAd Quad vaccines come with no supplied needle. You can order a variety of sizes/gauges directly from EBOS, Amtech, pharmacy wholesalers, or wherever you get your consumables from.

Promotion
Flu promotions are about to get will get underway from 1 April with a focus on Māori and Pasifika aged 55+, all others aged 65+, pregnant people, immunocompromised people and others who are eligible for funded a FREE flu vaccination. Targeted channels (eg email, text etc) will be used to let eligible people know they can have a free flu shot and to visit BookMyVaccine to arrange it.

IMAC bridging course pathway – 21 March 2023

The IMAC Vaccinator Bridging Course will end on 30 April 2023.

This course is a temporary pathway for eligible and interested provisionally authorised vaccinators to become fully authorised vaccinators.

People who have completed the course but have not completed the other requirements as outlined in the Immunisation Handbook Appendix 4 are encouraged to do this and apply to their local Medical Officer of Health for full vaccinator authorisation.

People who are eligible and interested in this course are encouraged to enrol now. For course dates please view IMAC website and register.

Māori and Pacific immunisation providers who wish to organise an in-person 1-day course for their team before 30 April 2023 should contact the below local IMAC education team.

Northern - Lisa Box, Northern Regional Immunisation Advisor
Midlands - Janet Collins, Midlands Senior Immunisation Education Facilitator
Central – Shelley Kininmonth, Central Regional Immunisation Advisor
Southern – Sue Rogers, Southern Regional Immunisation Advisor

If you wish to become a fully authorised vaccinator after the closing of the Vaccinator Bridging course, this can be achieved via the Vaccinator Foundation Course pathway. Registered and enrolled nurses and nurse practitioners, and registered pharmacists, are eligible for the Vaccinator Foundation Course.

The Provisional Vaccinator Update Course will end on 16 June 2023.

The authorisation certificates issued by Te Whatu Ora or the Ministry of Health to Provisional Authorised Vaccinators are valid for two years (from issue date). Vaccinator training is also valid for two years from the date it is completed. To maintain authorisation status, vaccinator training must be kept current. If training expires before the authorisation end date, Provisional Authorised Vaccinators must complete the Provisional Vaccinator Update Course to continue to vaccinate.

To access this course, please email Te Whatu Ora, Vaccinator Authorisations Team vaccinatorauthorisations@health.govt.nz to get the package code to access the online course on IMAC’s learning online platform.

If you wish to become a fully authorised vaccinator after the closing of the Provisional Vaccinator Update Course or your Provisional Authorised Vaccinator certificate has expired, you can become part of the immunisation workforce via the Vaccinator Foundation Course pathway. Registered and enrolled nurses and nurse practitioners, registered pharmacists are eligible for the Vaccinator Foundation Course.

For any enquiries, please email imaceducation@auckland.ac.nz

BMV training – 27 March 2023

Do you need to quickly find out how to use Book My Vaccine? Do you want to ensure you are fully prepared to manage consumer bookings and appointment schedules? If so, join us for a 30-minute webinar on how to use this powerful tool.

During this webinar, we'll cover the top things you need to know to effectively use Book My Vaccine. Our expert team will give you tips and tricks for managing your schedule efficiently, as well as how to customize your settings to best suit your needs. We'll also share some best practices for communicating with consumers and ensuring they have a smooth and stress-free booking and vaccination experience.

If you're ready to take the next step towards a more organized and efficient scheduling process, then this webinar is for you. Register now to reserve your spot, and join us for this informative and engaging event!

Join us for a 30-minute webinar to ensure you are prepared to use Book My Vaccine to manage consumer bookings and appointment schedules.

Dates and Times

Thurs Mar 30, 2023 10:30 AM
Thurs Apr 6, 2023 04:30 PM
Thurs Apr 13, 2023 06:30 PM

Please register for the series here. Registering will also give you access to the recordings.

Please forward this on to any sites, stakeholders or staff that you feel may benefit from attending this webinar. For additional information on BMV please visit the Te Whatu Ora website.

You can download BMV key messages and reactive QAs here.

CIR updates for flu vaccinations – 15 March 2023

As part of the ongoing enhancements to the COVID-19 Immunisation Register (CIR), updates are planned to be released on the evening of Wednesday 15 March 2023.

Influenza: To support the 2023 influenza campaign we have made some updates to how you record flu vaccinations. You can select:

the applicable indication
a batch number from the picklist, and the batch expiry date will populate automatically.

Reminder about editing vaccinations: You can edit vaccinations recorded on CIR for up to 24 hours after the vaccination event.

If you require changes after 24 hours, please contact help@imms.min.health.nz.

Group Bookings: There is no longer a difference between large and small group bookings. This means that only the group booking arrangers details are listed. Immunisation events for the individuals that are part of a group will not be created. Group bookings cannot be checked in.

Small group bookings made prior to this change will have immunisation events for the individuals that are part of the group, but you will not be able to check them in as a group.

How-to guides:

Step-by-step instructions for recording flu on CIR

Email and Phone Support: Please continue to direct questions and support requirements to help@imms.min.health.nz or call the team on 0800 223 987. These channels are currently monitored:

8am - 5pm, Monday to Friday (from 9.30am on Wednesdays)
9am - 2pm, Saturday and Sunday

If contacting via email (recommended), please provide a detailed description of the issue including what your issue relates to, your full name and your mobile number so the resolver can contact you.

NIP and IMAC WEBINAR: Influenza and COVID-19 – 13 March 2023

Get the latest information on the 2023 influenza programme and vaccines, COVID-19 boosters, co-administration and more!

Date: Tuesday 21 March 2023, 5.30pm-6.30pm
Registration: To attend the webinar register here

The NIP team and IMAC will present on:

Influenza Programme goals for 2023
Post vaccine safety surveillance
AIR and Book My Vaccine
COVID Boosters
Grey cap COVID vaccines
Co-administration of COVID and Influenza vaccines

IMAC WEBINAR: Vaccinating Health Workers and new Stage 2 training – 7 March 2023

Date: Wednesday 15 March 2023, 12-1pm
Teams live event - follow this link to attend the webinar

The webinar is for any potential or current employers of VHWs, their supervisors or VHWs themselves.

The webinar will cover:
1.   The Journey of the VHW role so far
2.   Detail on the new VHW Stage 2 training
3.   Experiences of Māori and Pharmacist providers employing VHWs (TBC)
4.   Walk through on how to access the training and the new IMAC Learning Management System (LMS)
5.   Where to next for the VHW
6.   Questions and answers

Influenza update – 6 March 2023

April 1 marks the start of the Flu Vaccination programme so there is a lot of work underway to help make 2023 a hugely successful year. Pharmac has confirmed the eligibility criteria for funded vaccines in 2023 – the key headline is that they are widening access to tamariki ages 6 months to 12 years, and will again offer it to Māori and Pacific peoples 55-64 years and those with serious mental health and addiction conditions. You can read the full release here.

2023 flu kit booklet

Can now be accessed online at influenza.org.nz. (Version dated 07/03/2023 on front and back covers).
Renamed to FLU2023 Essential information for health professionals.
Has minimal colour, as requested, so that providers who print it out themselves won’t use up so much printer ink as in previous years.

Influenza vaccine can now be ordered via Healthcare Logistics

Visit influenza.org.nz/vaccines/vaccine-availability-and-ordering-of-vaccines
Vaccines will be distributed from 20 March onwards.
Needles need to be ordered for AFLURIA QUAD, AFLURIA QUAD JUNIOR and FLUADQUAD from suppliers such as EBOS, Amtech or pharmacy wholesalers. For FLUQUADRI needles are unattached and included separately with the vaccines.

2023 consumer resources

See the new Consumer fact sheet: What you need to know about the flu vaccination .
Visit Dropbox: National Immunisation Programme vaccine resources - Simplify your life for fact sheet above, 2023 vaccination consent form, and other resources as they are made available.
Visit fluadhcp.co.nz/flu-resources to order Seqirus resources. Password is FLU2021.

Healthcare worker vaccination

Employers of non-district employed health and disability workers can have the cost of their influenza vaccine reimbursed from the National Immunisation Programme.
Visit tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-the-health-sector/health-sector-guidance/diseases-and-conditions/influenza/ which will be updated this week with 2023 reimbursement information.

Book My Vaccine (BMV) is available for influenza vaccinations in 2023

In 2023, consumers will be able to book their influenza vaccine appointments via bookmyvaccine.health.nz
Appointment availability starts 1 April; consumers can book these appointments from 16 March.
Providers currently using or intending to use BMV for influenza vaccination (new for 2023) need to urgently upload their appointment availability.
Visit tewhatuora.govt.nz/our-health-system/digital-health/book-my-vaccine/ for more information, including on how to sign up to offer influenza vaccinations via BMV

February 2023

Influenza 2023 – 28 February 2023

Providers will need to order needles in preparation for flu season:

For this year’s flu season, the available vaccines will be needle free.
Seqirus has advised this in their flu newsletter and notes the recommended gauge/size. You will need to purchase needles from suppliers such as EBOS, Amtech or your pharmacy wholesaler. Fluquadri (private purchase only from 6m) has needle supplied but not attached.
This means that you can choose the needle size according to the patient in front of you.
Our main interest is to ensure that there will be sufficient needles to accommodate demand. Seqirus has engaged with needle suppliers to ensure sufficient stock of needles. They advise that between EBOS, BD and Amtech there is approx. 3 million needles in NZ currently, with more arriving before the start of the season.

Update on ordering/delivery dates:

All providers can order influenza stock from 6 March via HCL website. Stock will be dispatched from HCL on 20th so providers could potentially receive it any time from 21 March.

Update on expected eligibility:

NIP is working closely with and advocating Pharmac regarding influenza eligibility criteria. In 2022 was 3 new criteria added, only 1 of which was going to be extended criteria moving forward. 3-12 years and Māori & Pacifica 55-64 years funding was pulled from COVID funds for just the 2022 season.
Eligibility is a Pharmac decision, and we anticipate there will be an announcement shortly.

Bivalent COVID vaccine & flu vaccine

As the eligibility change for the Bivalent booster will coincide with the start of flu season, a key message is to encourage consumers to receive both concomitantly for winter preparedness.

Flu toolkit and consumer collateral

New Flu vaccination consent form and What you need to know fact sheet are now in the Dropbox - Influenza (flu)
IMAC flu toolkit will be published online on 3 March. Over 6000 flu kits are scheduled to be sent by IMAC via post 10-13 March. There will be a supply of the fact sheet in the flu toolkit, you will be able to order more through Blue Star.

National Immunisation Programme’s stakeholder hui recording – 21 February 2023

Thank you to those who attended the NIP stakeholder hui held last week.

At the hui Dr Caroline Hart provided a clinical update, then followed by an update from Astrid Koornneef, Interim Director Prevention on our priority work in the Programme including MMR, the Cold Chain Standards Review, Under 5s COVID-19 vaccine for immuno-compromised Tamariki aged 6 months to 4 years, Childhood Immunisation, and Bivalent. We concluded with a presentation on Aotearoa Immunisation Register from the AIR team.

If you missed the hui a recording is available here: Dropbox: NIP stakeholder hui 16 February 2023.

National Immunisation Programme Hui – 7 February 2023

We warmly invite you to the upcoming National Immunisation Programme hui, which is being held from 1.30pm to 2.30pm, Thursday 16 February 2023.

This hui is designed to keep our vaccination and immunisation teams up to date with plans and activities undertaken by the National Immunisation Programme. The hui will include the following presentations:

Astrid Koornneef Programme update
Dr Caroline Hart: Clinical updates
Sarah Keenan: Aotearoa Immunisation Register

If you have specific issues you’d like addressed, please email them to us before Wednesday 15 February 2023.
Please copy the hui invitation details below into your calendar, and feel free to share this invitation with your colleagues who may wish to attend.  

Date: Thursday 16 February 2023
Time: 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Link: Microsoft Teams meeting
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 497 681 435 067
Passcode: iiUXMb

We hope you can join us, but if you can’t we will share a recording of this hui with you.

Book My Vaccine to support 2023 Flu campaign – 13 February 2023

The National Immunisation Programme has announced that Book My Vaccine (BMV) will be used to support the 2023 flu campaign from 1 April.

The Programme is working to expand BMV to allow the booking of other immunisations and will be supporting districts and providers through this change.

Flu vaccinations will be able to be recorded on three different systems this year. Find more information and guidelines on what is recorded where in the January AIR information pack.

Weather event preparedness – 1 February 2023

Please ensure you have plans in place to move vaccines off-site in case of power failures, ensuring staff are familiar with how to cool chilly bins and use recording devices, and have frozen ice packs ready. This is particularly important to protect against the loss of vaccines in short supply, for example, the mpox vaccine and infant Pfizer vaccine.

January 2023

Check influenza stock –30 January 2023

Please check your fridges to ensure there are no expired influenza vaccines still stored and be vigilant for any due to expire.

December 2022

Influenza and COVID-19 symposium 2023 – 21 December 2022

IMAC's annual symposium is coming up in March. For 2023, it is offering a full day symposium from 9am to 4pm on March 9th in Wellington. It will be covering both influenza and COVID-19.

Expert speakers will cover a range of topics including:

Why Influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations are important
The National Immunisation Programme (NIP)
Influenza and COVID-19 internationally
The 2023 Influenza Immunisation Programme
The COVID-19 Immunisation Programme
Influenza and COVID-19 - the immunisation provider’s perspective
Frequently asked questions regarding influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.

A draft programme will be available soon.

Registrations for in-person and online attendance will open at end of January via our website: immune.org.nz/health-professionals/conference-workshops. We'll let you know more about costs and details closer to the time.

Recording and presentation slides from the recent vaccine hesitancy and misinformation Webinar – 12 December 2022

On Friday 2 December, the National Immunisation Programme hosted a webinar where Dr Alison Buttenheim from the University of Pennsylvania spoke about behavioural science approaches to addressing vaccine hesitancy and disinformation.

If you missed the webinar, a recording, and the presentation slides are available. As we ran out of time during the webinar to answer all the questions, Dr Buttenheim responded to those questions separately.

The recording, presentation slides, and Q&As can be found in the NIP Dropbox here.

Regional portals and Healthlink re IMAC – 12 December 2022

You can now send a query to IMAC through HealthLink via the HealthLink tab on Practice Management systems for referrals. We welcome queries from health care providers regarding vaccinations, indications, schedule, assessment of possible adverse events and related matters.

For anything requiring an immediate response please continue to call 0800 IMMUNE (0800 466 863). However, if you wish to refer children to Immunisation Outreach please use the Care Connect e-referral form or your local equivalent.

November 2022

Te Whatu Ora, National Immunisation Programme webinar 10 November – 9 November 2022

Te Whatu Ora is holding a National Immunisation Programme Stakeholder hui tomorrow, Thursday 10 November 12pm - 1pm, via Teams.

This lunchtime hui is designed to keep our vaccination and immunisation teams up to date with plans and activities undertaken by the National Immunisation Programme. The hui will include the following updates:

Overall programme updates
Vaccine updates
Equity programme updates

We are very pleased to confirm the hui will include a presentation from the team at Kōkiri Hauora and Social services on the great mahi they have been doing in the vaccination service within the community.

Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 492 624 400 300, Passcode: hw3bNE

October 2022

Extension to flu vaccine reimbursements deadline - 10 October 2022

The deadline to submit claims for flu jab reimbursements has now been extended by two weeks to Sunday 16 October (previous deadline was 30 September).

The reimbursement process is quick and simple and generally takes less than 10 minutes to complete. This offer is open to all non-DHB/District healthcare worker employers. Visit this webpage to claim your reimbursement and get your employees’ flu costs refunded. If you have any questions we’re here to help, us contact us at immunisation@health.govt.nz.

September 2022

Vaccinator bridging course – 27 September 2022

The Vaccinator Bridging Course is now available through IMAC Learning.

This course is designed to upskill Provisional Authorised Vaccinators (PAVs) to achieve full scope of practice as an Authorised Vaccinator (AV) to administer vaccines on the National Immunisation Schedule (NIS), across the life span or to become a Pharmacist Vaccinator and deliver the scope of vaccines available. Registered/enrolled nurses, pharmacists & midwives are eligible professions for the Vaccinator Bridging Course (VBC).

To complete this course you must be a Provisional Authorised Vaccinator* (provisional authorisation is issued by Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand (formally Ministry of Health) and is valid for two years since issue date). Upon completing the education course, you will need to meet all the requirements outlined in Appendix 4 of the Immunisation Handbook to either apply for authorisation or become a pharmacist vaccinator (more details in Authorisation section below). *Please do not register for this course if you have not yet received your provisional authorisation status from Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand.

Course delivery and duration
This course involves online learning (10-12 hours), followed by a 3.5 hour in-person tutorial.

Last chance for flu vaccine reimbursements - 20 September 2022

If your healthcare workers were vaccinated against flu, you can claim up to $35 back per person from Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand. But be quick! The deadline for submitting your claim is next Friday (30 September). The reimbursement process is quick and simple – it generally takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

This offer is open to all non-DHB/District healthcare worker employers. Visit this webpage to claim your reimbursement and get your employees’ flu costs refunded. If you have any questions we’re here to help, us contact us at immunisation@health.govt.nz.

August 2022

Children's flu vaccine - 12 August 2022

For under 3-year-olds, flu vaccination rates have surpassed previous years with rates currently sitting at 10,842. The highest rate for flu vaccination rates for this group previously was 10,751 for the full 2020 flu season. We’d like to acknowledge our colleagues working in hospitals and primary care who helped us achieve this positive result. There are still more eligible children who would benefit from receiving this vaccine, so please keep up this good work. Every vaccination makes a difference.

July 2022

Flu and COVID vaccines - 15 July 2022

COVID-19 vaccine can be given at the same time or close to other vaccinations on the National Immunisation Schedule, including influenza (flu). If given at the same time, the vaccines will be administered at separate places on your arms and with different syringes.

For Novavax, a 3-day gap is needed if you’re having a Shingrix shingles vaccine, or the Fluad Quad flu vaccine.

Minimum vaccine orders - 11 July 2022

The minimum order requirement for Afluria Quad has now gone down to 30 doses. From August this will drop again to 20 doses. For more information: Availability and ordering of vaccines | Influenza - Immunisation & Vaccination Info, NSIG New Zealand

Encouraging flu vaccination for vulnerable young children - 8 July 2022

Nationally, we are seeing very low flu vaccination rates for young children with respiratory illness – approx. 2,000 young children of the 40,000 eligible have been vaccinated this year.

2019 ESR data showed children under one were the largest group admitted to ICU and hospital with Influenza. We can avoid hospitalisations this year by increasing vaccination rates. There is ample vaccine stock.

June 2022

Expanded flu vaccinations - 27 June 2022

The Ministry of Health has today announced the expansion of flu vaccine eligibility.

From Friday 1 July, children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs will become eligible for the free influenza vaccine.

Free flu shots are already available for everyone over the age of 65 and those at risk of becoming seriously ill or who have underlying conditions.

Flu vaccinations for healthcare workers - 22 June 2022

This year, in the context of the borders reopening and the continued threat of COVID-19, the goal is to have 80% of healthcare workers vaccinated against influenza.

ESR data shows that in the past two weeks influenza has taken over as the main respiratory illness causing hospitalisation of patients. Flu makes up three quarters of influenza-like illness in the community. And, with both influenza and COVID-19 circulating in the community, the risk of co-infection is high.

When the flu vaccine is working well, it can reduce your risk of needing to see a doctor because of symptomatic influenza by 40-60%. Vaccines only work if you’ve had them before you need it, so please don’t wait.

Reimbursement
To support health and disability workers not employed by DHBs, the Ministry of Health will reimburse employers the costs associated with vaccinating their patient- and client-facing employees. This offer includes those working in (but not limited to):

General practice
Private hospitals
Disability services
Pharmacies
Aged residential care facilities
Hauora Māori and Pacific health practices

Applications for flu vaccination reimbursement will be processed between 1 May 2022 and 30 September 2022. Guidance on applying for a reimbursement can be found here: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/influenza#reimbursement

Provisional Vaccinator Bridging Courses - 2 June 2022

IMAC has released dates for the Provisional Vaccinator Bridging Courses, including Dunedin on 21 July and 13 September, and Invercargill on 4 August. Course dates can be found at https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccinator-bridging-course and registration can be made via the learning platform.

To complete this course you must be a Provisional Authorised Vaccinator* (provisional authorisation is issued by the Ministry of Health and is valid for two years since issue date). Upon completing the education course, you will need to meet all the requirements outlined in Appendix 4 of the Immunisation Handbook to either apply for authorisation or become a pharmacist vaccinator (more details in Authorisation section below).

The course involves 10-12 hours online learning followed by a 3.5-hour face-to-face tutorial (this is the date provided on the calendar).

*Please do not register for this course if you have not yet received your provisional authorisation status from the Ministry of Health.

May 2022

Winter Wellness: Encouraging healthy behaviours this winter - 25 May 2022

As you know, winter is a peak time for respiratory illnesses and with COVID-19 still circulating, and the borders reopening, we may see a surge on the health and disability system during the next few months. Across the Ministry and the health sector, we’re working to ensure a co-ordinated approach to communications pre-winter, winter and post winter. There is a lot of good work happening in communities around New Zealand and we’re keen to raise awareness of this.

To this end, the Ministry of Health has created a unifying logo (lock-up) for use across range of collateral and platforms, and we invite you to apply it to your winter wellness promotional assets. There are two versions of the lock-up to use in various formats (the primary one is the main one to use) and which have been uploaded, along with placement guidelines, to the resources Dropbox – Simplify your life.

A message bank is being developed for public-facing winter wellness messaging. This will be available shortly.

Ethnicity and the funded flu vaccine - 2 May 2022

Ethnicity is self-defined by the person – if someone has identified as a particular ethnicity, that is defining ethnicity, regardless of what is recorded in the Individual's NHI data. For example, if a Fijian Indian person identifies as Pacific ethnicity, they are eligible for a funded flu vaccine provided they are aged 55 years or older.

April 2022

Vaccine storage and transportation – Influenza and other vaccines - 15 Apr 2022

NIS and Recording the Flu Vaccine - 1 Apr 2022

The National Immunisation Solution (NIS) is a large project that will be built and deployed throughout 2022. It will replace the National Immunisation Register (NIR) and will eventually supercede the Covid Immunisation Register (CIR).

The NIR Admin can pull data from both PMS systems and CIR so you only need to record flu vaccinations through CIR if your PMS does not connect directly to the National Immunisation Register (NIR).

Check your onboarding needs here.

The flu form functionality in CIR will be activated on the evening of Thursday 31 March. This means you will be able to see and log into the system from anytime Friday morning. Before you administer your first flu immunisation on Friday each user should allow at least 20 minutes to activate your CIR account and trouble shoot any issues. You do not need to do anything until then except please ensure you have completed your training.

Need help with CIR for Flu?

Find out where to get help for common issues here.
Speak with your on-site SuperUser if you’re already using CIR for COVID
For new CIR users, join one of the regular Teams Drop-in Sessions Daily at 1-1.30pm. Access here.
For more help, contact support: help@imms.min.health.nz, 0800 223 987

For more information about the flu campaign visit www.influenza.org.nz.

National Influenza campaign starts 1 April - 1 Apr 2022

This year’s influenza immunisation campaign starts on Friday (1 April).

Everything you need to know about the rollout is detailed in the 2022 Flu Kit, available here, found at this page: Influenza Webinar and flu online | Immunisation Advisory Centre (immune.org.nz)
Please note, the eligibility for funded flu vaccines has been extended to Māori and Pacific people aged between 55-64 years. This is in addition to the usual groups (people aged over 65 years, pregnant people, and for people (including children) at risk of severe outcomes because of underlying health conditions).

You can get more information about the vaccine on the following webpages:
•   About the vaccine: Medsafe www.medsafe.govt.nz/ or www.seqirus.co.nz
•   Health professional information: www.influenza.org.nz
•   Healthline for advice on 0800 611 116 anytime www.healthline.govt.nz
•   Ministry of Health influenza page: www.health.govt.nz/flujab (live soon)

Digital copies of flu promotional materials are attached and will be available via Blue Star* (for ordering from Friday 1 April so not currently seen on the catalogue), or via your usual resource delivery contact, and at Dropbox: Dropbox - Influenza - Simplify your life.

*If you are a vaccinating health provider and would like to register for the MoH Blue Star portal to order printed vaccine materials, please email: moh.support@bluestargroup.co.nz and request ‘Vaccine resources access’, include your clinic/practice/pharmacy name and your contact details.

March 2022

General information regarding 2022 influenza vaccine - 24 Mar 2022

Annual IMAC Influenza Vaccination Programme
The annual IMAC Influenza Vaccination Programme webinar will be hosted by Lisbeth Alley IMAC Regional Immunisation Advisor – Northern on 23 March 2022 at 5:30pm.
The webinar will be recorded and made available later on the IMAC website.

This webinar is for health care providers offering Influenza Vaccination in 2022, it will outline the vaccines available both funded and unfunded, the details of the funded programme, vaccine clinical details and review Influenza disease and impacts. A certificate is not provided, however HCP can use the webinar reflection form to include in their professional development portfolio. Link to register for this is here.

Link to the 2022 Influenza flu kit can be found here and is available online from 25th March 2022. Hard copies to be mailed out one - two weeks following.

Attached is the IMAC summary document – that explains the vaccines available and what is funded/not funded.

Alternative plans for 2021 Flu returns
Given the impact of the Omicron outbreak on HCL resources and current courier delays the MOH, PHARMAC and Seqirus have agreed an exception to the usual process of collecting and destroying unused influenza vaccine for 2021. For this year only, customers are asked to dispose of the stock themselves rather than returning it to HCL for a credit. If you have lodged a claim with HCL (before 31 January 2022), please send confirmation of the destruction of the stock to HCL and a credit will be issued.

The advice re disposing of stock, is to put into sharps bin if needle attached and use bio hazard bag if no needle or usual waste process, no need to empty syringes down sink or deface. Providers with large stock and concerns about this can contact the Ministry. For Medical Centres with other vaccines to be returned for destruction could include their flu in with that.