HNZ: National Immunisation Programme Update - 25 November 2022

Kia ora koutou kaimahi,

Happy Friday! Here is our update for this week. Please share this with your wider contacts and networks. If you know anyone who is not receiving these updates and would like to be included, please let me know or pass them my email address sandy.thambiah@health.govt.nz.  Once again, thank you for all your amazing mahi, and helping us by forwarding information to your networks.

Addressing vaccine hesitancy and disinformation through behavioural change – an address by Dr Alison Buttenheim

We warmly invite you to attend a special National Immunisation Programme organised Webinar on Friday 2 December 2022 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm where Dr Alison Buttenheim will speak about behavioral science approaches to addressing vaccine hesitancy and disinformation.

Dr Buttenheim has served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Ad-Hoc Committee on a Framework for the Equitable Allocation of the COVID-19 Vaccine, and provided testimony on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy to the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

We hope you can join us. Feel free to forward this invitation to any of your colleagues who may also be interested to attend and don’t forget to send your questions for the speaker by Wednesday 30 November.

And finally, please remember to copy and paste this webinar information into your calendar: 

Dr Alison Buttenheim - bio

• Alison Buttenheim is Professor of Nursing and Health Policy, the Silverstein Endowed Term Chair in Global Women’s Health, and Scientific Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research addresses persistent behavior change challenges in public and global health.
• Using the techniques and frameworks of behavioral economics, Dr. Buttenheim designs, test, and scales innovative interventions to prevent and mitigate infectious diseases. She is a recognized global expert in the area of vaccine acceptance, with a particular focus recently on COVID-19 vaccines.
• Dr. Buttenheim consulted with several local, state and national governments on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and designed and evaluated multiple behaviorally-informed interventions to increase vaccine acceptance, including a financial voucher for older adults in South Africa, a geographically targeted sweepstakes in Philadelphia, and ownership and social norms messaging interventions.
• She has served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Ad-Hoc Committee on a Framework for the Equitable Allocation of the COVID-19 Vaccine, and provided testimony on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy to the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
• As part of her global health practice, Dr. Buttenheim helped launch and serves as the Behavioural Design Lead for Indlela, a first-of-its kind "nudge unit" supporting innovations in HIV services delivery in South Africa.

Second booster eligibility expanded

Last Wednesday there was an announcement of an extension of eligibility for a second COVID-19 booster to Māori and Pacific peoples aged 40-49 – available from Friday 18 November.

We wanted to also update you that:

• Direct communications - 55k Māori and Pacific people aged 40-49 who met the eligibility criteria for a second booster were sent an email or SMS on 18 November. The content of the communication was to inform them of the change in eligibility of second boosters following last week’s announcement, advising why second boosters are important; and should they wish to, how to book and get vaccinated. Individuals were directed to pharmacies, local Māori or Pacific health providers, and vaccination centres to have their second booster. They were also provided details to call Healthline for information and to book. Following the email / SMS campaign, outreach calls commenced from Monday 21 November, with the automated journeys (email / SMS) being extended shortly – system-generated email/SMS messages delivered automatically when an individual becomes eligible.
• Targeted radio advertising went live from Monday 21 November (focussed on iwi and Pacific radio stations). This is in market till end of next week.
• Updated print collateral is in production and will be available on Dropbox once ready.
• The interactive digital tools on the Unite Against COVID-19 and Karawhiua websites is now live. This interactive eligibility checker that consumers can use can be found at: Check your eligibility.
• The updated Ministry of Health website reflecting this change is found here:  COVID-19 vaccine: Boosters | Ministry of Health NZ

PCV13 at ProPharma, and Zostavax returns

Yesterday, we shared the following with some of our key relevant stakeholders:  

PCV13 (Pneumococcal) vaccine order schedule

Due to a quality assurance delay with PCV13 stock deliveries to the ProPharma sites – PCV13 will now be available for ordering on the following revised dates:

• ProPharma Auckland – Tuesday 22 November
• ProPharma Hamilton – Wednesday 23 November
• ProPharma Christchurch – Thursday 24 November
• ProPharma Wellington – Friday 25 November
• ProPharma Dunedin – Friday 25 November
• ProPharma Whangarei – Monday 28 November
• For further information, please refer to ProPharma’s website here: www.fundedvaccines.co.nz

PCV13 (Prevenar) replaces PCV10 (Synflorix) from Thursday 1 December 2022. For more information please view IMAC’s recent webinar on PCV, and the attached FAQs.

Zostavax returns

Pharmac has advised that providers who have yet to exhaust all remaining Zostavax stock can return this to ProPharmat at an ambient temperature for destruction.  All remaining Zostavax stock in the supply chain expires 25 December 2022.  Instructions for returning Zostavax stock is the same as returning PCV10 stock – please see the vaccine change checklist attached. 

Our regular reminders 

Weekly vaccination data

A new weekly, online Trends and Insights report has replaced our previous, downloadable Whānau Māori and Pacific Peoples Data summaries. Our Māori and Pacific data can be found here: COVID-19 Trends and Insights, COVID-19: Current Cases, COVID-19 Case Demographics and COVID-19 Vaccine Data.

Collateral on Dropbox

Don’t forget all our immunisation collateral is available on Dropbox for health care providers to use when promoting vaccinations. Please feel free to share this link and the collateral widely with your other healthcare colleagues: Dropbox: NIP – vaccine resources – Simplify your life.

Consent forms (English and Te Reo Māori) and policy statements for use by health professionals can also be found in this Dropbox.

You can also find a range of vaccination stories to share on our YouTube channel.

Ngā mihi nui,

Sandy

Please  note:  As I am WFH from overseas at the moment, and due to the time difference, my hours of work is altered.  I will endeavour to get back to you as soon as I can, but sometimes it may not be until the next day when I respond. Thank you so much for your understanding and patience.

Sandy Thambiah

Senior Adviser, Engagement

National Immunisation Programme

waea pūkoro: +64 21 248 1288| īmēra: sandy.thambiah@health.govt.nz

133 Molesworth Street, Te Whanganui-a-Tara

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