32 Facts About Helen Petousis-Harris

Helen Aspasia Petousis-Harris is a New Zealand vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland.

Helen Petousis-Harris has been involved in research related to vaccination in New Zealand since 1998, with her main areas of focus being vaccine safety and effectiveness.

From 1999 to 2002 Helen Petousis-Harris was a researcher at the University of Auckland, working with the Immunisation Advisory Centre, a New Zealand-wide organisation based at the University.

Helen Petousis-Harris continued in various roles at the centre, including Honorary Assistant Research Fellow and Director of Research from 1998.

Helen Petousis-Harris was a Senior Lecturer at the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland from 2012 until February 2020 when she attained the position of associate professor.

Helen Petousis-Harris earlier said the study demonstrated that the vaccine Synflorix reduced pneumonia, middle ear infections and hospitalisation from invasive pneumococcal disease.

Helen Petousis-Harris took part in a cohort study in 2018 that explored safety outcomes in pregnant women in New Zealand who had received pertussis immunisation using Tdap vaccine.

When it was decided to discontinue the vaccination in April 2008, Helen Petousis-Harris co-authored a paper that aimed to "provide a background to this decision and explore the advantages, disadvantages and other considerations with regard to ceasing MeNZB vaccination".

Helen Petousis-Harris was involved in a research project in 2009 that tracked how the MeNZB campaign had been reflected in media headlines.

In 2017, Helen Petousis-Harris was the lead author for seminal research that provided evidence of a link between the meningococcal vaccine and a cure for gonorrhoea.

Helen Petousis-Harris agreed with a New Zealand news item which said this "exciting" Kiwi research showed a vaccine for gonorrhoea was close for the first time, and she noted that even though the exact details of how the mechanism of vaccine worked, the findings would inform future development of both meningococcal and gonorrhoea vaccines.

Early in her career, Helen Petousis-Harris held concerns about the quality of immunization coverage in New Zealand and was involved in research programmes to identify primary care factors that impacted this.

Helen Petousis-Harris was part of a team that analysed data collected on this line with a goal to compare the caller profiles and the nature of their inquiries over equal periods between 1999 and 2003.

The research paper, co-authored by Helen Petousis-Harris and released in 2005, showed changes in caller profiles, including use of the line by a higher number of health professionals, many of whom referred patients directly to the service, or were informed enough to respond to parental questions.

Helen Petousis-Harris was involved in conducting research in 2010 that further explored this by focussing on how "structural and organisational characteristics of general practices" may impact immunization coverage and timely delivery.

Early in 2020, when most of the cases of COVID-19 were still in China, and before it was declared a pandemic by The World Health Association on 11 March, Helen Petousis-Harris published an opinion piece on the University of Auckland website which explained the background of the virus and indicated that the swift response of international authorities was a good sign a vaccine would be developed quickly.

Helen Petousis-Harris urged people to not be influenced by misinformation, get scientific information and avoid panicking.

Helen Petousis-Harris agreed this was part of a global perception [and] "New Zealand [was] no exception to changes in public attitudes around vaccination and it [was] not always good news".

Helen Petousis-Harris noted the speed at which they were being developed required vigilance in monitoring of the safety of a vaccine before deployment, and required unprecedented international collaboration.

Helen Petousis-Harris addressed concerns in the media on 17 November 2020 that more prosperous countries may pre-purchase a vaccine at the expense of less wealthy countries with higher death rates and said:.

Helen Petousis-Harris responded enthusiastically to the news on 17 November 2020 that New Zealand had signed agreements to obtain the vaccine developed by Pfizer and was considering a deal with Moderna.

Helen Petousis-Harris was confident that following a review of the vaccines by the Government's Vaccine Strategy Taskforce, and approval by Medsafe, there would be enough purchased for everybody in the country, with prioritised distribution beginning early in 2021.

Helen Petousis-Harris said there was no evidence that profit was a driving force, and while companies did need to cover their costs, some were not focused on profits for a period of time.

When it looked likely that the Pfizer BioNtech and Janssen Biotech vaccines for COVID-19 would be rolled out in New Zealand in early December 2020, Helen Petousis-Harris was one of a group of experts who discussed some of the risks associated with this.

Helen Petousis-Harris said it was reasonable to be concerned about the rollout of the vaccine but planning at high levels was underway to ensure that problems with recent rollouts of the measles and influenza vaccines would be avoided.

When providing expert advice for the preparation of an article in the Western Leader, Helen Petousis-Harris stated that the trials for COVID vaccines had been "more stringent and transparent because the world [was] watching".

Helen Petousis-Harris expressed disappointment with the decision which she said undermined what were temporary mandates there in the interest of community safety.

In November 2022, Helen Petousis-Harris urged the Government to accelerate its COVID-19 booster rollout in response to rising cases, hospitalisation rates, and deaths during the third wave of COVID-19 cases that year.

Helen Petousis-Harris advocated introducing the Bivalent vaccine to combat new COVID-19 strains.

In 2018 Helen Petousis-Harris was awarded a five-year Dean's Fellowship by the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, to research infectious diseases and the vaccines that help prevent them.

Helen Petousis-Harris was a semi-finalist in the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards, 2020.

In 2021 Helen Petousis-Harris was shortlisted for the Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact as an acknowledgement of her work on vaccine safety and effectiveness.