Vaccine a must for health staff – expert

A quarter of the country’s healthcare workers are yet to receive their first Covid19 jab, and public health expert Michael Baker says the vaccine should be mandatory for frontline staff.

Ministry of Health Covid-19 vaccine and immunisation programme national director Jo Gibbs said 117,665 frontline healthcare workers had received their first vaccination so far.

‘‘We are aware that all district health boards (DHBs) are promoting Covid-19 vaccinations to staff and have been working at pace to book them for their vaccinations.’’

About 162,000 health care workers were employed in New Zealand in 2020, according to StatsNZ.

University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said there was a strong argument to make the vaccine mandatory for frontline health workers. ‘‘Healthcare workers internationally are more vulnerable to exposure to Covid-19, and they have a higher mortality level than the rest of the population because of that.’’

The vaccination was another form of protection, similar to PPE, for health staff, he said.

Baker said he expected DHBs to know the proportion of staff vaccinated.

Health boards report annually on influenza vaccination rates among staff, in the aim of getting 80 per cent of staff vaccinated.

Gibbs could not confirm if there was a target for Covid-19 vaccination coverage.

Influenza vaccination reporting started in 2015. The 80 per cent target was set in 2018 to help improve the ‘‘suboptimal’’ uptake, which was as low as 65 per cent in 2016.

A ministry advisory on March 19 said DHBs could ask staff to share their Covid-19 vaccination status, and it was important to collect the information.

The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB), which employs more than 10,000 staff, was unable to provide the number vaccinated. A spokesman said it was unable to ‘‘extract staff-specific data’’ from the

Covid-19 immunisation register at present, and referred the question to the ministry.

Covid-19 response executive lead Ralph La Salle said there was no target for coverage, ‘‘but we will encourage as many staff as possible to get vaccinated against Covid-19’’.

The health board was not ‘‘seeing hesitancy among the current groups of staff’’, he said.

Auckland, Waitemata¯ , Capital and Coast and Counties Manukau DHBs referred questions on staff vaccinations and targets to the ministry.

Other health providers are tackling vaccine hesitancy among staff.

He Waka Tapu, a Christchurch Ma¯ ori social and health non-Government organisation, has surveyed its 106 employees about attitudes to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Chief executive Jackie Burrows said of 55 staff who responded, up to 40 per cent said they would not get the vaccine.

A very small number were adamantly opposed to the vaccine as they believed misinformation spread online, she said.

Others just wanted more information, but said they would probably get the vaccine at a later date.

Burrows said she would not make it an employment requirement, but would actively manage workers to ensure anyone working with frail, older people was fully vaccinated.

Ryman Healthcare – the largest provider of retirement villages in New Zealand – introduced a requirement for new employees to get the Covid-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. Spokesman David King said 1100, or 20 per cent of staff, had now been vaccinated.