To: / General Practitioners, Practice Nurses, Practice Managers, Health Professionals
From: / Rayoni Keith,Manager, Immunisation
Subject: / Coverage update, Rotavirus, Influenza, Zostavax, NIR workshops, Support for Former Sawmill Workers, MERS
Coverage update from Immunisation Champion Dr Pat Tuohy
Thanks for your support and suggestions for keeping families coming back after their first immunisation events. One effective approach is to set up precall appointments for three months and five months at the first immunisation visit. Keep the good ideas coming in and we’ll share them.
Rotavirus immunisation
It’s been a year since rotavirus was introduced onto the National Immunisation Schedule, and uptake for the vaccine has been good, at 87.6 percent at age eight months for the last three months nationwide. We think some babies may be missing out because they begin their immunisations too late,ie after 15 weeks of age. The criteria for the administration of rotavirus are strict – if babies are late, then they may not have the opportunity to catch up. Please follow up those who are late for their six week immunisation and refer promptly to outreach services if they are more thantwo weeks late. If you receive notification of the rotavirus vaccination being overdue, please check whether other immunisations are also overdue and deliver them at the same time.
Influenza vaccine
Influenza reports have begun to rise towards seasonal levels, so it’s important to make sure as many of your vulnerable patients are immunised as possible. PHARMAC has introduced new eligibility criteria for the vaccine effective as of 1 July, extending funding to those who have a cochlear implant, errors of metabolism at risk of major metabolic decomposition, pre and post splenectomy and Down Syndrome. For more details, please see the online version of the Pharmaceutical Schedule.
Zostavax
Patients requesting Zostavax vaccine do not need to be tested for chickenpox antibodies before being given the vaccine.
National Immunisation Register workshops
The Ministry of Health is holding a series of sector engagement workshops to get input from users and other stakeholders of the National Immunisation Register (NIR). We want to learn from our collective experience over the past decade of what works well and what are the challenges in improving health outcomes. These workshops will be facilitated by Patients First and are an opportunity to provide input into the review of the NIR and supporting processes.
As well as reviewing the technical aspects of the NIR, we will also be reviewing the business processes to ensure an improved immunisation system which is fit for purpose for both current and future needs.
Workshops have begun in Wellington and will be continuing in other regions throughout July. Please see download a schedule of workshops in your area.
Special Support Service for Former Sawmill Workers Exposed to pentachlorophenol (PCP) and other hazardous substances
The Ministry would like to remind practices of the support available for former sawmill workers, as some may be unaware of them.
The Special Support Service for Former Sawmill Workers Exposed to PCP (the Sawmill Workers Service) is for former sawmill workers who were exposed to pentachlorophenol (PCP) and other hazardous substances at sawmills throughout New Zealand from the 1950s to the 1980s. The Sawmill Workers Service, established in 2010, aims to help people stay healthy by supporting the early detection of diseases, promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing modifiable risk factors.
The Sawmill Workers Service is based on an annual health check delivered by a general practice team in a primary care setting. It includes referrals to other publicly funded services depending on patients’ health needs.
More information about the service is available online at or search for “sawmill”. Schedule C5 of Version 3 of the PHO Services Agreement describes more detail about the annual health checks.
MERS
Since 2012 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have been confirmed and notified to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases have been reported in several Middle Eastern Countries. More recently, South Korea and Thailand have also reported cases of MERS. All cases outside the Middle East have either lived in or travelled to affected countries, had close contact with travellers returning from the Middle East and/or contact with a case of MERS.
Although sustained person to person transmission has not been observed in communities, secondary transmission, particularly in healthcare settings has frequently been reported.
The outbreak in South Korea reinforces the importance of rapidly obtaining a travel history from patients. The challenges around the early detection of rare imported cases of respiratory infection highlights the importance of implementing adequate infection prevention and control measures for all patients showing symptoms of acute respiratory infection.
Further information about MERS-CoV is available at:
If you have any queries about anything in this update, please email