Researcher Summary
My research mostly uses routinely collected data to answer wide ranging questions looking at improving child health outcomes. My most recent work has been examining vaccine effectiveness, immunisation coverage, and immunisation programme evaluation, and maternal use of pharmaceuticals during pregnancy and child outcomes, all utilising administrative health data.
While vaccines are determined safe and efficacious/effective in overseas studies before being funded here, gaps still exist in confirming this for New Zealand populations. I have been involved in research examining the epidemiology of pneumococcal disease in New Zealand and examining the overall effectiveness of our routine childhood pneumococcal programme. In addition, certain conditions or diseases mean some children are at higher risk of invasive pneumococcal disease, which cause causes significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the young and patients with underlying conditions. While PHARMAC funds additional vaccines for children considered at high-risk of pneumococcal disease, nobody has actually evaluated the effectiveness of this programme in New Zealand, or even if these high-risk individuals are getting the additional funded protection. Our hope is that understandings from this study will help inform actions to improve vaccination rates and inform schedule decisions, in order to help prevent pneumococcal related morbidity and mortality, and potentially reduce inequities experienced by children with chronic and congenital conditions.
