Te Whatu Ora - Call for action: vaccinations for vulnerable tamariki We are all keen to ensure those vulnerable to severe flu are protected. While we know there are barriers currently preventing easy vaccination of this age group, we do need your help to protect them. Vaccinating them now will protect them from late season flu and having two doses this year means they only need one dose next year. Criteria Children under three years are very vulnerable to severe flu and the vaccine significantly reduces hospitalisations and death in these children. It also reduces transmission to other children and vulnerable whānau members. This year has seen extremely low rates of immunisation for this young, vulnerable cohort. As you can see in the table below, fewer than 4,000 doses have been administered nationally. This likely means around 2,000 of the eligible 40,000 children have been protected. The eligibility is basically any child who’s been to hospital with respiratory illness or who has other underlying health conditions. We do encourage everyone to opportunistically vaccinate vulnerable children rather than delaying. Use this approach if you don’t have immediate access to a child’s records. Flu vaccination can be given as long as the child doesn’t have a high fever. Access Please consider creative solutions for making ease of access a priority. Ideas could include pooling resources with other practices; using the surge COVID-19 workforce to talk with parents; offering transport options; or making paediatric flu vaccine available at urgent care, EDs and local paediatric departments. Stock There are excellent stock levels throughout the country for Alfluria Quad Junior and they can be distributed to your area easily and quickly. It comes in packs of 10, with a one pack minimum order (free delivery during July if three packs of any flu vaccine are ordered). We have enough paediatric flu vaccine for all 40,000 eligible children, given that most will need two doses. So far, we have distributed 15,000 doses and only 3,800 have reached tamariki. This table below shows how many doses have been administered by each DHB area. Paediatric Alfuria Quad Junior doses administered in 2022 by DHB to those under three years old. Data from 29/6/22 DHB Auckland Bay of Plenty Canterbury Capital and Coast Counties Manukau Hawke's Bay Hutt Valley Lakes MidCentral NA
Total 568 86 747 496 352 39 92 12 60 12