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Immunisation programme decisions

The Ministry of Health considers that it is important to be open and transparent about the decisions and recommendations that it makes on significant public issues.

This section provides links to documents and papers which informed the Ministry's recent decisions regarding vaccines to protect against Pandemic H1N1 influenza (swine flu).

The New Zealand Medical Journal has a useful summary of previous immunisation decisions, including the childhood immunisation schedule.

Pharmacist vaccinators

In 2012 some pharmacists will be able to offer privately purchased influenza immunisations.

The Medicines Regulations allow suitably trained people to be able to give immunisations without a prescription, but this has mostly been used by registered nurses. In 2011 a number of pharmacists applied to become authorised to give influenza immunisations, so the Ministry of Health reviewed the existing standards to see if they needed to be changed for pharmacists. Following consultation with stakeholders, the Ministry decided that the existing process and standards were sufficient for pharmacists wanting to become authorised vaccinators, but that for a number of reasons only privately purchased influenza immunisations would be available from pharmacists.

Appendices 3 and 4 of the Immunisation Handbook 2011 describe the guidelines and standards for vaccinators and for organisations offering immunisation services. The documents below provide more details about how this process will work for pharmacists wanting to become authorised to give influenza immunisations, and the Ministry's expectations for collaboration among primary health care providers.

National Immunisation Schedule decisions for 2011

The National Immunisation Schedule is the list of vaccines provided free of charge to children and adolescents to protect them from diseases. Currently these diseases are: hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, pneumococcal disease and human papillomavirus.

Every three years the Immunisation Technical forum, a group of clinical advisors with expertise in matters relating to immunisation, reviews the diseases covered on the National Immunisation Schedule. This was done in 2009 and the recommendations are attached below. Recommendations to add new vaccines to the Schedule are balanced against disease burden, costs of implementation and priorities of the current government.

Every three years vaccine companies are asked to tender to supply vaccines for the National Immunisation Schedule. The vaccines being offered are evaluated, and the Ministry asks the Immunisation Technical Forum for their advice and recommendations. In 2010 the Immunisation Technical Forum made the following recommendations:

At the end of the evaluation process the Ministry recommended to the Minister of Health which vaccines to use for the 2011 to 2013 National Immunisation Schedule. The Ministry's report to the Minister is below.

Pneumococcal vaccine change in 2011

The report to the Minister of Health made the recommendation for children who had commenced Pneumococcal immunisation with Prevenar 7, to complete the first three primary doses of vaccine. The Ministry has since changed its approach to transition after consulting the sector and the Immunisation Technical Forum. The Ministry will use up Prevenar7 stocks and switch vaccine to Synflorix at one time, which means that children will switch to using Synflorix regardless of how many doses of Prevenar7 they have received.

Pandemic H1N1 influenza (swine flu) decisions

The documents below outline the decision-making processes and recommendations for purchasing vaccines for pandemic H1N1 influenza (swine flu).

The main strategy was to use the annual (seasonal) influenza immunisation programme with a trivalent vaccine that incorporated the pandemic strain as one of the three strains. The Government also purchased a contingency supply of monovalent vaccine that included protection against only the pandemic strain.

Some details have been deleted according to the provisions in the Official Information Act to protect the privacy of natural persons and to protect information that is commercially sensitive. The Ministry also does not reveal the price it pays for vaccines because it might affect the Ministry's ability to get the best price for vaccines in the future - withholding the price encourages competitor vaccine companies to offer their lowest prices.

Extending and enhancing the seasonal influenza immunisation programme

This Cabinet paper outlines the options for extending and enhancing the seasonal influenza immunisation programme.

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Page last updated: 27 January 2011