78755 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health

78755 (2024). Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health: Can the Minister confirm that ongoing data reconciliation has resulted in discrepancies between milestone coverage rates presented in Tier One Childhood Immunisation Milestone Coverage statistics and subsequent recalculations?

Hon Dr Shane Reti: I am advised that this is correct. Work to improve data reconciliation and to resolve incomplete immunisations records is showing promising early results in addressing longstanding issues in the sector that have persisted over the last 15 years. The quarter 1 childhood immunisation coverage rates have been calculated using data extracted as at 26 November 2024. Due to the later run extract date, these coverage rates will capture: · Immunisation records that had historically not been in Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR) due to issues with Patient Management Systems. · Immunisation records that have been entered into AIR at a lag (i.e the immunisation event occurred during the quarter, but the record hadn’t been entered into AIR until after the quarter ended). · Changes to the eligible population as a result of people having since entered or left the population. As a result of capturing these records and changes, the milestone coverage rates shown here will differ to what is presented in other milestone coverage reporting such as the tier one childhood immunisation milestone coverage statistics. The milestone coverage rates for quarter 1 2022/23 and quarter 1 2023/24 were calculated using data extracted from the AIR as at 5 September 2024.