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Immunisation

The National Immunisation Programme recommends immunisation as the best protection against serious but preventable diseases – helping to protect our children, families and our community. The Programme provides free immunisation to people across their lifespan.

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What does Te Hiringa Hauora do?

We work with the Ministry of Health's immunisation team to provide communications and marketing support for its National Immunisation Programme.

Throughout the year and in response to disease outbreaks we promote immunisations for babies, children, adolescents and adults.

Learn more about our immunisation work

Why immunise

We have developed a video series, called ‘Why Immunise?’ to support and promote the National Immunisation Schedule. The videos explain how immunisation helps protect against the spread of serious diseases that can be prevented. They show the impact of these diseases and how they can affect New Zealand families. The key messages are:

  • Protect your whānau. Immunise, it’s their best protection.
  • Immunisation is one of the best ways to protect your whānau against serious diseases.
  • Protect your child against serious diseases and give them the best start to a healthy future.
  • Every country in the world is using immunisation to save lives and prevent the spread of serious diseases.
  • For their best protection, immunise on time.
  • Immunisation helps to protect our tamariki, our whānau and our whole community.

The series includes eight videos:

  • three informational videos featuring Dr Kiriana Bird 
  • five 30-second video advertisements that can be used to promote immunisation and increase awareness.
View the videos

Immunisation Week 2021

Immunisation Week is about raising awareness of the importance of immunisation to protect against serious illnesses. The theme of the 2021 Immunisation Week is 'Protected Together #Immunise' and focuses on ensuring that we are all protected against serious diseases.

Resources available 

To support DHBs for Immunisation Week 2021, Te Hiringa Hauora has developed a new Digital Communications Toolkit. This toolkit has been designed to help support your Immunisation Week planning and promotions and includes many of the designs and outputs developed for the national campaign.

These resources are available for DHBs to produce, use and share at a regional level. The resources are designed to help support activity across a number of local channels, so to get the best value out of the toolkit use these resources in a range of channels that work best for your local community. 

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Immunisation Week messages include the importance of ensuring that you and your whānau are up-to-date with your immunisations to help prevent the spread of serious diseases. They also focus on the importance of protecting your child against serious diseases to help protect the people around them too, like members of your whānau or the wider community. 

Key messages:

  • High immunisation rates protect our whole community from the spread of serious diseases.
  • When you protect your child from serious diseases, you're also protecting the people around them, including those who can’t be immunised themselves.
  • Make sure your whole family, young and old, is up-to-date with their immunisations. See the National Immunisation Schedule for a list of free, recommended immunisations for you and your family.
  • Immunisation is one of the best ways to protect your whānau against the risk of serious diseases.
  • Immunisation coverage of 95% is needed to help shield the population from serious diseases, like measles. We all need to work together to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
  • New Zealand's midwives, nurses, doctors and pharmacists all play an important role in making sure our whole community is immunised.

Te Hiringa Hauora can provide artwork files for some resources. The printing and production needs to be arranged locally. Artwork is subject to a conditions of use agreement and needs to comply with the National Immunisation Programme Brand Guidelines. Te Hiringa Hauora has developed supplementary artwork guidelines to specifically support Immunisation Week 2021. 

Contact Jemma to request artwork or if you have any brand queries. 

Maternal immunisation

Pregnancy and newborn babies

Immunisation is recommended and free for pregnant women as mothers pass some of their immunity along to their babies during pregnancy. This provides some protection to newborn babies during the first few weeks of life until they are able to be immunised.

We have a new pamphlet that talks about the importance of immunisation during pregnancy. The pamphlet, for pregnant women and their families, explains the immunisations recommended to protect mum and baby against serious diseases such as whooping cough and influenza.

Order the Immunise during pregnancy resource

Download or order copies of the Childhood immunisation brochure

View more immunisation resources

Childhood immunisations

A key focus of this work is on getting immunisations completed on time and helping to achieve the Government's health target of 95% of eight-month-olds being fully immunised.

Infant immunisations are offered at six weeks, three months, five months, 12 months and 15 months. They help protect babies against serious preventable diseases such as whooping cough, pneumococcal and rotavirus. Infant immunisations are critical as they provide protection for babies when they are at their most vulnerable.

More useful information

B4 school checks

We have developed a range of resources to support the B4 School Checks programme. The B4 School Check is a nationwide programme offering a free health and development check for 4-year-olds.

The B4 School Check identifies and addresses any health, behavioural, social or developmental concerns that could affect a child’s ability to get the most benefit from school. It’s also a great opportunity for children to catch-up on any infant immunisations they may have missed.

Download or order copies of the ‘Is your child starting school?’ poster

School-based immunisation programme

Protect your child against serious diseases and most cancers caused by HPV

The school-based immunisation programme provides free ‘Boostrix’ and ‘HPV’ immunisations for children in Year 7 and Year 8 to protect them against several serious diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough and most cancers caused by HPV. The programme is available through schools or general practices. It is a convenient way for most families to ensure that their children are protected against serious diseases. Campaign activity begins in February each year.

The campaign encourages parents to sign and return the consent form to allow their child to get immunised at school. Find out more about the campaign here and download the communications pack for you to promote the campaign in your community.

  • Boostrix Immunisation (or TDap) is typically offered to students in Year 7 and protects against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. It increases the protection children received through their earlier childhood immunisations by boosting their immunity to these diseases. Boostrix is delivered as a single injection.
  • Human Papillomavirus Immunisation (or HPV) is typically offered to students in Year 8 and protects against most cancers caused by HPV including cervical cancer and head, neck and throat cancers, which can affect men and women. It takes two doses to be protected against HPV. Those beginning vaccination at age 15 years or older need three doses.

Download or order copies of Boostrix and HPV resources such as consent forms and information pamphlets. 

HPV immunisation campaign

The HPV campaign aims to reach parents and caregivers of children aged 11 and 12-years-old to increase awareness and highlight the risk of HPV infection, which is serious and can lead to cancer in later life. The campaign encourages parents to immunise their child against HPV at school  as part of the free national school immunisation programme.

Download the HPV School-based Immunisation Programme communications pack

Download the HPV School-based Immunisation Programme communications pack for Kura Kaupapa and Māori immersion schools

Learn more about the campaign

 

Teenagers and young adults

It’s important that young people stay up to date with their immunisations. In recent years, New Zealand has had serious outbreaks of preventable diseases such as the 2013 measles outbreak and the 2017 mumps outbreak which effected more than 1200 people.

In response to the outbreaks, Te Hiringa Hauora has developed a number of online and print resources for use in promoting catch-up immunisations for teens and young adults.

Download or order copies of the 'Has your teen missed any immunisations?' poster

View more immunisation resources

Older people

The National Immunisation Schedule has changed for older people. Immunisation against influenza, shingles, tetanus, diptheria and whooping cough will be free at age 65.

A new resource, Immunisation for Older People, is available to order from HealthEd. This resource includes information on the recommended immunisations for adults aged 65+ to protect against several serious diseases.

 

In your community

We have resources that you can share with your community including your family, workplace, sports club, community group, or school.

View our immunisation resources

Research and evaluation

We develop research and provide useful evidence to support the sector as part of immunisation work. This includes gathering data on New Zealanders’ thoughts about immunisation through the Health and Lifestyles Survey, and informing and evaluating activities, programmes and initiatives.

View our immunisation research publications

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