Independent vaccinators are legally authorised to administer vaccines without requiring a prescription or standing order written by a medical practitioner.
As an independent vaccinator you can only administer vaccines that are part of an approved immunisation programme. These can either be national immunisation programmes approved by the Ministry of Health, such as the National Immunisation Schedule, or local immunisation programmes approved by the Medical Officer of Health.
The authorisation process
You will need to be a registered nurse or midwife in New Zealand in order to be eligible for independent vaccinator authorisation.
To obtain authorisation as an independent vaccinator for the first time you will need to apply to the Medical Officer of Health.
Authorisation as an independent vaccinator is legally valid for a period of two years only. In order to continue your authorisation you will need to reapply to the Medical Officer of Health.
Types of authorisation
There are three types of authorisation offered in Auckland:
- General authorisation
- Adult vaccination authorisation
- Limited vaccination authorisation
The type of authorisation that you will be granted depends on the vaccinator training that you have undertaken.