We recently received a query from one of our members and thought it was worth a mention in the newsletter. The query was around codes for Herpes Zoster Vaccination given by other healthcare provider but there was no code for Zostavax administered by other healthcare provider - the practice didn’t want to use the same code as wanted to distinguish between the 2 vaccines -
ANSWER - The Herpes Zoster vaccination given by OHP is the only vaccination code we can use when it has been administered elsewhere. The code is fine to use for either vaccine being administered, it doesn't relate to Zostavax in particular as Herpes Zoster is just the name of the Shingles virus so it is a generic vaccination code, covering any brand of vaccine being administered.
When recording the code in EMIS there is obviously a data qualifier field you can use to then record the specific brand of vaccine (Zostavax/Shingrix) - this shows in the patients record and can be searched on in Population Reporting as well, which would allow you to distinguish between the different vaccines?