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Temporary funding uplift to support MMR vaccination uptake Thank you for the important mahi you have undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The testing and vaccination programmes have been significant national priorities, and their success has largely been driven by primary and community healthcare providers. To continue to build on this good work, the Ministry will provide temporary funding to help increase uptake of MMR vaccination, with a particular focus on Māori and Pacific communities. The funding will be used to increase the MMR vaccine administration payment fee until 31 July 2022 and to support DHB Outreach Immunisation Services (OIS) until 30 September 2022, helping to reduce barriers to accessing care. The 2019 measles outbreak, which was the largest measles outbreak since 1997, had a large impact on Māori and Pacific communities and highlighted the need to address the equity gap in immunisation rates for Māori and Pacific tamariki and rangatahi. There are several reasons why MMR immunisation is particularly important this year. The first is that our previous MMR Immunisation Programme and MMR catch-up campaigns were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The national focus of the COVID-19 campaign has resulted in many tamariki not yet receiving their second MMR vaccination. In addition, with our borders being closed for the past two years, New Zealand now has lower-than-normal population immunity. This presents a higher risk of serious disease and the potential for a serious outbreak now the borders are re-opening. Our expectation is that this temporary funding will help support this priority work and to increase immunisation rates within the communities who are most at risk.
Top-up of the MMR administration fee payment $1.5 million will be used to fund a temporary increase to the MMR Immunisation Administration Fee from 16 May until 31 July 2022. This addition to the MMR administration fee will support the immediate extra effort required to increase MMR vaccination coverage. This payment will be managed by the Ministry of Health and will be a supplementary top up payment over and above the current Immunisation Administration Fee based on claims data. No additional claiming processes will be required. DHBs will continue to pay the base Immunisation Administration Fee via their standard mechanisms.