1. Vaccine information

The Privacy Act 2020

April 6, 2021

Tips for getting a break

April 30, 2021

Parent to Parent aims to provide you with:

Reliable COVID-19 vaccine information
A channel for feedback to the Ministry of Health regarding vaccination

How do I book a vaccination?

Useful resources

News archive

Feedback

How do I book a vaccination?

If you want to book in advance – go to BookMyVaccine.nz or phone the COVID Vaccination Healthline on 0800 28 29 26.

To be vaccinated without an appointment – visit Healthpoint, choose your location and select ‘no appointment required’

Or visit this interactive map, choose your location with ‘Vax now’ as your appointment type.

Even if you have booked your vaccination already, you can choose to go to a walk-in or drive-through vaccination centre instead.

Make sure to cancel any appointments you no longer need. We need to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get vaccinated. You can cancel on BookMyVaccine.nz or by calling 0800 28 29 26.

Video – How to use Book My Vaccine

Resources

Ministry of Health

Information on COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19: Disabled people – vaccine advice

COVID-19: Information for disabled people and their family and whānau at Level 4

COVID-19: Resources and tools

Healthpoint – a national search engine of vaccine providers, with filters for additional assistance

Covid-19 Vaccine: Your safety and side effects questions answered

Manaakitanga Journey – a new graphic online tool to help disabled people get vaccinated against COVID-19 .
– PDF version
– Word document version
– PNG version

NZ Government

Unite against COVID-19 (covid19.govt.nz)

NZ Vaccine Facts – an animated series about how Aotearoa New Zealand responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why getting vaccinated is an important step towards protection from the virus.

Social Stories

Social stories, role plays and more to help prepare you and your disabled family member for their vaccine

Social story from AutismNZ about being vaccinated

Social Story about wearing masks

Online videos

Dr. Ashley Bloomfield on vaccines: A simple overview of the vaccines and their safety.

Vaccines begin in Waikato: DHB staff and other frontline health workers in the Waikato talk about their vaccine experiences.

Addressing misinformation with Dr. Rawiri Mckree-Jensen: Dr. Rawiri provides advice on trusted information sources and recognising and avoiding misinformation.

A kid friendly guide to the vaccine

How the CoHow mRNA vaccines, like Comirnaty, work

Vaccination and employment relations

Guidance for employers on vaccination-related issues and good employer practice

News archive

15 September

Everyone 12yrs and over can book their vaccine now. No invitation needed just book at Bookmyvaccine.nz or call the COVID-19 Vaccination helpline on 0800 28 29 26. When booking there is an option to ask for assistance. Some DHBs have mobile teams or can offer support with transporting you to the vaccination, if this applies to you then please contact your DHB directly. Note there are long wait times on the phone, however booking online only takes a few minutes.
Be a doer, Karawhiua! Trusted information, so you can make an informed choice about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Free Support for Decision Making for COVID-19 Vaccination – The Personal Advocacy Trust has received a grant from the Ministry of Health to support people with learning disabilities or other cognitive impairments on making the decision on whether to vaccinate or not. Anyone can make a referral. For more information contact PAT on 0800 728 7878 or email www.advocacy@pasat.org.nz
District Health Board list and contacts — DHBs are responsible for ensuring the provision of health and disability services within their regions. You can find trusted information on the website of your local DHB, including information on vaccinations in your local area.
Anyone who may have difficulty in accessing vaccinations or testing is advised to contact their GP.
Post-vaccine symptom check – Up to 10 percent of New Zealanders who receive a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine will be randomly selected to participate in a mobile survey. A text message will be sent from the Ministry of Health six days after each dose of the vaccine and 43 days after the second dose, to ask whether you had any reactions. Participants can reply to the message for free by texting YES, NO or STOP to opt out.
Side effects – Like all medicines, you might experience some mild side effects 1—2 days after getting your vaccination. This is common, and a sign that your body is learning to fight the virus. Most side effects do not last long, and will not stop you from having a second dose or going about your daily life. Some side effects may temporarily affect your ability to drive or use machinery. Report an adverse reaction.
Please send us feedback about your vaccine status and comments you have by anonymously completing a quick questionnaire. It doesn’t matter if you have already completed it. We are compiling the results and reporting back to the Ministry of Health regularly.

23 August

Following Medsafe Provisional Approval, the decision to vaccinate young people aged 12–15 years has been approved by Vaccine Ministers, Health Officials, and Cabinet. From today, as parents or guardians become eligible to book their vaccinations, they can also book for 12 to 15-year-olds in their whānau. How to book their vaccination.
The standard time between doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is now six weeks. This new guidance is in line with other international programmes using the Pfizer vaccine. For more information, please see this media release.
If you are aged 40 or over, or you are in Groups 1, 2, or 3, you can book your vaccinations now. Age 30+ can book from Wednesday 25 August. From 1 September all eligible ages will be able to book their free vaccination appointments. Book my vaccine.
Access codes – If you were invited to book before 28 July, you may have been given an access code. This code is not needed to book anymore, just go to Book My Vaccine and confirm you’re either aged 40 or over, or in Group 1, 2, or 3.

20 August

COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use for 12-15 year olds

From today, when parents or guardians book their COVID-19 vaccine, they must also book in a vaccination for any 12 – 15-year old’s in their whānau.

Bookings can be made by visiting BookMyVaccine.nz

Young people aged 12 – 15 years will be able to access the vaccine through a variety of ways most convenient to them and their family/whānau, for example:

At their general practice or community pharmacy
At a community vaccination centre
At other community-based sites such as faith-based locations or marae

Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect ourselves and our whānau. The more of us who are vaccinated in our community, the greater our immunity.

12 August

Accelerating the vaccine rollout

Gap between doses extended

From today, the standard gap between the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be 6 weeks.

Moving to a longer gap enables more people to have their first dose of the vaccine sooner. This is an important part of New Zealand being prepared for a possible outbreak of the more infectious Delta variant of the virus.

If you have already had your two doses closer together than six-weeks, you have received great protection against COVID-19. Early research shows that an extended gap between doses of the Pfizer vaccine also gives a robust immune response.

If you have vaccinations booked that are less than six weeks apart, you can keep your second appointment or choose to change it. For example, people with specific clinical treatment plans (such as those about to commence immunosuppressive treatment) or those at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 like border workers may be advised to have their doses with a shorter gap. The two doses must be given at least 21 days apart.

We also know people travelling overseas may require their doses sooner. This is okay too – it’s better to get two doses of the vaccine than to travel without being fully vaccinated.

The important thing is that you get two doses to be fully vaccinated.

The vaccine rollout is on track to make the vaccine available to everyone in New Zealand aged 16 and over by the end of the year.

To make or change a booking, go to BookMyVaccine.nz or phone the COVID Vaccine Healthline on 0800 28 29 26. From today, new bookings will default to six-weeks between first and second doses. If you’ve booked with your GP or pharmacy and want to change your appointment, contact them.

Group 4 age bands opening sooner

Increasingly, the Group 4 age bands are opening as more vaccination sites open (including many general practices and pharmacies). So far, more than 2 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered, with more than 800,000 people fully vaccinated.

Upcoming age band openings:

50+, from 13 August
40+, from 18 August
30+, from 25 August
16+, from 1 September

4 August

Issues with Access Codes

We understand a small number of people have had difficulty booking a vaccination online using an access code issued with an invitation.

If you’re booking with an access code and no appointments are showing as available in your area this could be because the access code was issued a while ago and has expired. Please remove the code you’ve entered and try again without a code.

You can still book online or over the phone without a code – you just need to answer a couple of simple questions to help us understand your needs.

Please call 0800 28 29 26 (8am to 8pm, 7 days a week) if you need help or want to book over the phone.

The team can engage with the NZ Relay Services and support you if you are Deaf, hearing impaired, Deafblind or speech impaired.

The team can also arrange to talk with you in your language – when your call is answered, say you’d like an interpreter and the language you’d like to speak in.

There’s no cut off and we have enough vaccine for everyone eligible to be fully vaccinated by the end of the year.

29 July

Medsafe provisionally approves AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Medsafe has granted provisional approval of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older. This was announced on 29 July.

New Zealand secured 7.6 million doses (enough for 3.8 million people) of the AstraZeneca vaccine through an advance purchase agreement last year.

Provisional approval does not mean that we have committed to using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in New Zealand as part of our Immunisation Programme.

We secured purchase agreements with four pharmaceutical companies to manage the risk that some vaccines might not be approved for use.

To have a third COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in New Zealand is welcome news.

Feedback

Please send us your feedback about your vaccine status and comments by anonymously completing a quick questionnaire. It doesn’t matter if you have already completed it. We are compiling the results and reporting back to the Ministry of Health regularly.

If you have any questions, please contact Sheryl Davies, Regional Coordinator Otago
0278083949 | sheryld@parent2parent.org.nz.