A pilot programme will set up vaccination services at 27 of Plunket's clinics around the country. Photo: AFP
Staff at Plunket will soon be trained to administer vaccines.
Minister of Health Shane Reti hoped the plan would improve declining immunisation rates and convince vaccine-hesitant parents to give their kids their vaccinations.
The pilot programme announced on Wednesday will set up vaccination services at 27 of Plunket's clinics.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said the government would contribute $1 million to the pilot through to June 2026.
"This funding will support Whānau Āwhina Plunket to train its workforce as vaccinators and establish immunisation services," she said.
Dr Reti said the programme was a response to dangerously low immunisation rates.
"Over the past few years childhood immunisation rates have been falling across the world, and New Zealand is no exception," he said.
"The latest quarterly results from Health New Zealand show that 76.6 percent of children were immunised at 24 months."
The government's goal was 95 percent.
He said there were several reasons for the decline, including vaccine hesitancy.
"It's a combination of things, and it's not just unique to New Zealand... Across the world immunisation post-Covid has been a struggle, there's been that increase in vaccine hesitancy," Reti said.
"[The solution is] a combination of persuading parents and ongoing education. But it's also access, making it easy to do the right thing. They want to do the right thing, [so] how do we make it easy?"
Plunket chief executive Fiona Kingsford said her staff were uniquely placed to talk families through the immunisation process.
She hoped to convince parents that vaccines were safe and necessary for their babies.
"That's one thing Plunket nurses already do... Talking to families about immunisation," she said.
"The wonderful opportunity we have now is we also get the opportunity to offer to do that vaccination there and then for that family."
New Zealand College of General Practitioners medical director Luke Bradford said Plunket's existing relationships with parents would make a big difference.
"One of the biggest things that makes a difference in vaccine hesitancy is having conversations with trusted voices, people who you believe have you and your child's best interests at heart," he said.
"That's certainly true of Plunket, so hopefully it will help."
He said the new programme would particularly benefit parents who couldn't access a GP.
"There's a significant portion of people who are unenrolled, who are then not vaccinated," he said.
"This will give those people an opportunity."
Just 27 out of Plunket's roughly 400 clinics would administer vaccines during the 18-month pilot.
In that time, Kingsford said staff would experiment with different ways to deliver the vaccines.
"We'll be trying immunisations running alongside the Well Child visit, when they come into clinic, as well as independent immunisation clinics, we'll also be trialling it eventually in-home," she said.
"Then also through things like community events, where we might run an event on a weekend."
She said it was vital that New Zealand increased its immunisation rates quickly.
"It's so important, we have really low immunisation rates, in particular, things like whooping cough, pertussis, and measles," she said.
"We really are on the cusp of significant outbreaks if we don't lift our immunisation rates."
The first Plunket clinic would start delivering vaccines in Whangārei before the end of 2024.
