Vaccine computer glitches defended

Computer glitches that meant details of children's vaccinations were incorrectly recorded or missed have been dismissed as "teething problems" with the $7.5 million register.

In Parliament, Act health spokeswoman Heather Roy raised allegations that the National Immunisation Register - rolled out last year to coincide with the meningococcal B vaccination campaign - had more than 150 bugs in its program.

And in one month alone it failed to register, or incorrectly recorded, data on 11,000 children.

But Health Minister Annette King said all new computer systems had problems. Each of the problems had since been worked through, including the information that had been incorrectly entered into the system.

"I am told that the ministry first discovered the problems in March this year and has been working to fix them," she said.

But Heather Roy said she was not so sure the problems were fixed.

"The minister was very careful to say the glitches have been ironed out, but it is my understanding they have not been ironed out at all."

The Act party compared the problems with the register to the Incis police computer debacle and quoted a Counties Manukau District Health Board senior manager saying the problems with the register were "ugly".

"How can parents have any confidence in the immunisation process, when it has been confirmed that this system failed to identify children who had missed doses, and mistakenly identified others who were up to date, and when the results were skewed and follow-up was delayed in the meningococcal vaccine campaign," Heather Roy asked.

The register is being rolled-out around the country and will be fully installed by the end of the year.

System failure

* 150 bugs found in computer system set up for the meningococcal B vaccination programme

* 11,000 children in one month alone had incorrect data recorded or were missed by the system