Introducing a new vaccinator role - Vaccinating Health Worker
The Interim Health New Zealand (IHNZ) announced the Medicines Regulations were updated to include Regulation 44AA, “Alternative authorisation of vaccinators”. This revision came into effect on 19 May 2022 and enables IHNZ to authorise a new role - Vaccinating Health Worker (VHW).
The introduction of the VHW role will expand the scope of the existing authorised COVID-19 Vaccinator Working Under Supervision (CVWUS) workforce to administer additional vaccines upon completion of required additional training.
Like for CVWUS, Clinical Supervisors are a key enabler for the successful introduction of the new VHW role.
VHW Clinical Supervisor
The clinical supervisor of vaccinating health workers will be a registered health professional with relevant, recent vaccination experience who has been nominated as a suitable candidate to be a supervisor by their employer.
The clinical supervisor may be a fully authorised or provisionally authorised vaccinator.
Clinical supervisors are responsible for overseeing the practice and providing support to VHWs at an operational level.
If the clinical supervisor is a fully authorised vaccinator with two years of experience, they can also perform the clinical assessment for VHWs under a Standing Order.
VHW Clinical Supervisor Course
This course is designed for registered healthcare professionals who are Full or Provisional Authorised Vaccinators with relevant and recent vaccination experience who are currently in a supervisor role for CVWUS or are interested in becoming a clinical supervisor.
The course is not mandatory; however, is strongly recommended for healthcare professionals in the clinical supervisor role. It covers the framework and principles for clinical supervision, best practice tips, and knowledge check exercises.
Upon completion of the course, there is an MCQ assessment where the passing mark is 80%.
Course access
This course is available on IMAC’s Learning Management System; log on and add the course to the training cart. No package code is required.