RE Official Information Act request WCDHB 9354
I refer to your email dated 3 October 2019 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB, (this being a follow-up request to our response to your original request WCDHB 9329). This request pertains to vaccination and immunisation rates among staff.
- Is the rate or proportion of health staff who’d be immune currently, for example against pertussis. In your charts, I can see that over the 7 years to 2019 Canterbury DHB gave out 1592 pertussis vaccinations to staff. In West Coast, I can see from your chart that in last 5 years 177 staff were given pertussis vaccines, which is offered 5 yearly. What this doesn’t tell me is what the proportion of staff is who are up to date – I’d assume that every ten years, all staff would need to have a booster to gain full staff immunity to pertussis, meaning that you’d expect about half of staff to have boosters every five years, when they’re offered. I’m trying to work out how close to full immunity hospital staff might be – not many DHBs seem to know, and the few that do have rates that vary hugely between regions.
- Could you tell me how many health workers were at the DHB on average over the years you’ve been tracking vaccinations, or better yet the actual current rates of immunity among your staff?