Pre-call and recall initiative

In April 2024, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora announced additional funding for general practice to support increasing childhood immunisation rates. General practice are the main providers of childhood immunisations and are responsible for pre-call and recall activity for their enrolled population. This is particularly important for 6-week immunisations which is closely associated with on-time completion of the National Immunisation Schedule.

This funding aims to support general practice for the time and effort required to undertake pre-call and recall, and where required, referral to outreach or other vaccination service providers, as part of achieving 6-week immunisations for their pre-enrolled or enrolled eligible population. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora  have also provided funding to Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) to coordinate this initiative and facilitate best practice pre-call and recall, and referral processes.

We emphasise the importance of the key messages highlighted in the Best Practice Pre-call and Recall for 6-week immunisations document for babies as they turn 6-weeks old. Prioritising immunisation recalls with an equity approach and consistently offering opportunistic immunisations are critical to achieving completion of 6-week immunisations and subsequent childhood immunisations.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is committed to achieving the national target of 95 percent of children fully immunised by 24 months of age by 2030. With this overarching goal, the Pre-call and Recall initiative should target children up to 24 months old, with emphasis on reaching those under 2 years of age for their relevant immunisation milestone events. The completion, whether fully or partially, of the 6-week immunisation event between 1 April 2024 and 30 June 2025, qualifies for payment for activities undertaken to pre-call and recall these children.

Primary Health Organisations are required to provide reporting to primary.care@tewhatuora.govt.nz by the 20^th of the month following each quarter.

The '6-week immunisation event given' report can be used as base level information for 6-week immunisations delivered to their enrolled population (including immunisations delivered in settings outside general practice), however supplementary data from PHO general practices will be required to ensure that relevant data recorded in the PMS but not yet in AIR, can be reconciled and funding distributed and reported on.

Please refer to the AIR-Power BI-6w immunisation event given report guide for further details.

If you have any immunisation questions not addressed in the FAQ document, please contact the Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora Prevention team at immunisation@tewhatuora.govt.nz.  

If you have any contract-related questions not addressed in the FAQ document, please contact the Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora  Primary Care team at primary.care@tewhatuora.govt.nz.