Nurses not happy with vaccine launch

The introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine for babies this month has been badly handled and has not been a "good look" for the health profession, a nurses union representative says.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation's Otago division of the college of practice nurses secretary Sally O'Connor says lack of information about the changes to the immunisation schedule left nurses ill-prepared to cope with the changes and advise parents.

The nurses supported the introduction of the vaccine because of its health benefits, but felt they were placed in a position where they could not provide a professional service.

"There are enough anxious people about vaccinations without us looking as if we don't know what we're doing," she said.

Another problem was that computer technology commonly used by practices which links them to the national immunisation register could not take information on the new vaccinations.

This had now been fixed.

One of the difficulties was that the meningitis B vaccination (MeNZB) was phased out at the same time the pneumococcal vaccine came in.

There had been confusion about whether those babies still completing MeNZB vaccinations (some needed another dose) should have that vaccination at the same time as they received pneumococcal (Prevenar) vaccinations and the other six-in-one vaccine, Infanrix-hexa (this vaccination covers diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, hepatitis B, and haemophilis influenza type b).

It would have been better if MeNZB had been stopped before Prevenar was introduced, she said.

The division has written to the Ministry of Health expressing its concerns and hoped that the introduction of the human papilloma virus vaccine (designed to offer protection against an infection which may lead to cervical cancer) in September will be better handled.

National Immunisation Advisory Centre director Nikki Turner said while there had been some difficulties in the first couple of weeks, that seemed to have settled.

One of the problems had been that the information in hard copy was delayed.

However, information had been available online.

One of the reasons for the delay was that information about the HPV vaccination which was only announced by the Government in May had to be included.

The major confusion had been over whether the MeNZB and pneumococcal vaccines should be given at the same time.

Some practices are choosing not to or are doing so with parental agreement.

Mrs O'Connor said in some instances this meant extra visits for parents and babies.

Dr Turner said it was hard to perfect communication about vaccines and in general in New Zealand there was much mis-understanding and nervousness about vaccines and how they worked.

Absence of disease was a hard product to explain.

Director of public health Dr Mark Jacobs acknowledged it had been a difficult time for practices adjusting to the change in the register.

He said although the time was limited, plans for the introduction of the HPV vaccine in September were on track.

District health boards were working on their implementation plans and resources were being developed for practice nurses, doctors and patients, he said.