Flu Vaccination Recalls

This page outlines software instructions and provides helpful resources from Te Whatu Ora to increase the uptake flu vaccinations in your practice.

> Funding Criteria
> Role of General Practice
> How to recall patients in bulk
• Set up of message template
• Send recalls from query builder
• Send recalls from CBIT report

Funding Criteria Eligibility

Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for everyone from 6 months of age, but free (funded) flu vaccines are provided to people at higher risk of severe outcomes from influenza each year. Free immunisation begins from 1 April until about September in anticipation of the winter flu season.

Funded influenza vaccine is available if a patient is: 

Aged 65 years and over.
Aged 6 months and over with a relevant chronic health condition (e.g., diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease).
Pregnant at any stage.
Children aged under 5 years who have had hospitalisation for respiratory illness or significant respiratory disease history.
People with serious mental health conditions or accessing secondary/tertiary mental health/addiction services.

Note: Pharmac sets funded eligibility criteria each year, so specific criteria may vary slightly by season.

Who contacts patients?

General Practice / Primary Care plays the central role in vaccination delivery — GPs, nurses, and practice teams identify and recall eligible patients for flu immunisation.

Practices should proactively contact eligible patients (e.g., by text/mail/portal message) to offer flu vaccine appointments — especially high‑risk groups.
In some regions, community immunisation programmes (e.g., Māori and Pacific health providers, outreach clinics) may also invite patients to vaccinate.

Te Whatu Ora does not routinely send direct vaccination reminders through the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR) unless there is a public health relevance; practices remain responsible for their patient recalls.

The role of the general practice

General practices are a trusted vaccination provider and typically are responsible for:

Performing the recall function to bring in eligible patients for their annual flu vaccine.
Providing information and answering questions about influenza vaccination (effectiveness, safety, seasonal strains).

Reassuring patients about the vaccination process — when it can be given and possible mild side effects.
Providing clinical follow‑up and care if patients have concerns or adverse reactions.

How to Recall your patients with Vensa on Medtech Evolution

Practices may choose to recall patients by either

sending a bulk text from query builder or by
sending a bulk text from the appropriate CBIT report

For both processes, you will need to set up the outbox document first.

Creating an Flu Recall outbox document

For initial setup, we need to create an outbox document/text template for this. Follow this process here to create an outbox document.

Message Template Draft:
Hi [PAT_USUALNAME], We have reserved a dose of the flu vaccination for you. Book now to protect yourself and your whanau. For more info see info.health.nz/flu [LOC_NAME] [LOC_DAY_PHONE]

Instructions for using Query builder to send Flu Recalls

Once the outbox document has been created, you can now head to the query builder to identify due patients and contact them.

On the Evolution TOOLS menu, select QUERY BUILDER.
You can see a example query below - this finds all patients that are currently enrolledandfunded with the clinic, but do not have any flu vaccination recorded in the last 6 months. Adjust the query as needed - you can add an age filter as well if you'd like to filter for patients who are 65 or older.

Once you are happy with the query, select 'RUN QUERY' at the bottom right. To send the message in bulk to all patients on this list, select MERGE > MAIL MERGE. This opens a new popup.

Select the outbox document that you have previously set up, a dummy printer (i.e Microsoft XPS Document Writer, CutePDF, OneNote or similar) and tick 'Add to patient outbox'. Then click OK. This will send the text messages - please note that your Medtech might not react for a few minutes while it processes the request.

We recommend saving the query for later use. You can do this by going back to the query window and entering a file name and selecting 'SAVE AS QUERY'.

Then, select the folder you would like to save the query in and click OK.

Instruction for using CBIT Reports for sending your Flu Recalls

Medtech has a few flu specific reports pre-set, so you do not need to create your own query. To access these reports, head to the CBIT ribbon > VACCINATION.

It will list a few different reports that target patients who might be eligible for a funded flu vaccine and have not yet received a dose recently. You can filter the report further to only show patients who have a mobile number on file. Please review the report before sending the messages in bulk.

To send a bulk message, select the ACTIONS icon on the left (looks like a gear) and then select 'PRINT DOCUMENTS'. This will open a popup.

^{This page is provided for general information only. While we aim to keep content accurate and up to date, we do not guarantee completeness or accuracy. Screening programmes, eligibility, and delivery may change. For the most current and official information, please refer to Te Whatu Ora at info.health.nz.}

^{References: https://info.health.nz/}