Immunisation Community of Practice

This updated tear-off pad covers post-vaccination experiences, what to do at home if a reaction has occurred, when to seek medication advice and how to report an adverse reaction.

Download here

New stock will be available to order in coming months to reflect changes to the National Immunisation Program.

The meningococcal B (Men B) vaccination catch-up program for Aboriginal children has been extended indefinitely.

Who is eligible for funded meningococcal B vaccine?

• Bexsero is provided under the NIP for Aboriginal infants at 6 weeks, 4 months, and 12 months of age, and for ongoing catch-up vaccination for Aboriginal children under 2 years of age.
• Some Aboriginal children who have certain at-risk conditions may need an extra dose at 6 months of age.
• All people with asplenia, hyposplenia, complement deficiency and treatment with exculizumad.

Where do I find further information?

• NSW Health Immunisation Schedule
• Australian Immunisation Handbook
• Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
• National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS)
• Contact your local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055

Where do I get printed copies of the NSW immunisation schedule?

Immunisation providers may order the updated NSW Immunisation Schedule, A3 poster and fridge basket stickers by completing the NSW Immunisation Resource Order Form and sending to the Better Health Centre, either via email at nslhd-bhc@health.nsw.gov.au or fax on (02) 9887 5452.

NSW Health has a number of influenza resources and winter respiratory information for the community available on the NSW Health website. This includes in-language resources and information on free influenza vaccination for higher-risk groups. As flu continues to circulate, sharing these resources with the community can help encourage vaccination, staying home when sick and hand hygiene.

A health professionals' toolkit to assist healthcare providers in their conversations with parents and carers about childhood immunisation has been produced by the Department of Health and Aged Care. The kit includes various resources, answers to common questions, support for conversation approaches, following up on children who have missed scheduled vaccines and immunisation clinical support.

Routine Childhood Immunisation - health professionals' kit

GSK has refreshed the Rotarix Dosing and Administration wheel that it provides to immunisers to assist with dosing and administration of Rotarix. If you would like to order the new Rotarix dosing and administration wheels for your practice, please email your request to au.vaccines@gsk.com

If you still have copies of the old Rotarix Dosing and Administration Wheel (which was a purple colour), GSK recommends that you immediately cease use of that wheel and discard any copies currently in your possession.

Please see the below advice regarding the inclusion of Vaxelis on the NIP.

The NSW Immunisation Schedule and the NSW Childhood Immunisation Schedules have been updated to reflect this inclusion and are available to order from the Better Health Centre using the Resource Order Form.

Further advice is also available on the NSW Immunisation webpage

To provide support to organisations to deliver COVID-19 vaccination services including boosters to vulnerable populations, the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (the PHN) has community grants available for eligible activities.

To support the Government’s COVID-19 response, innovative, local, short-term COVID-19 vaccination activities and strategies are being implemented. These targeted, short-term activities aim to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccination among vulnerable populations who cannot access or have difficulty accessing the vaccine through existing mechanisms.

The community grant round will be accessible via the PHN grants portal SmartyGrants with funding available of between $10 000 ex GST and $250 000 ex GST.  

To learn more, please access:

COVID-19 Vulnerable Populations Vaccination Community Grants 2023 - Primary Health Network (thephn.com.au)

In addition, the PHN is funding 55 scholarships for eligible Registered Nurses and Aboriginal Medical Practitioners to complete the Australian College of Nurses “Immunisation for Health Practitioners Course (307)”, to sustainably strengthen the HNECC workforce. For more information, please refer to:

COVID-19 Vulnerable Populations Vaccination Immunisation Scholarships 2023 - EOI - Primary Health Network (thephn.com.au)

In 2023 there will be changes to the National Immunisation Program including a new listing of Vaxelis® vaccine as an alternative DTPa-hepB-IPV-Hib vaccine for children at 2, 4 and 6 months of age (effective from 1 July 2023) and Shingrix® vaccine for prevention of herpes zoster (shingles) and post-herpetic neuralgia to replace Zostavax® (pending regulatory approvals) (effective from 1 November 2023).

The Australian Government will publish an updated NIP Schedule and a news item containing this advice on the Department of Health’s website on 1 July 2023. Providers can also get the latest NIP updates by subscribing to the email list.

Individuals who aren’t enrolled in Medicare or don’t have an Individual Healthcare Identifier can have their vaccinations recorded directly onto the AIR site using software, or an official AIR form and uploading it via HPOS.

Using the AIR site

Check if a record already exists

To prevent a duplicate record from being created, you can search the AIR for an existing record by entering the surname, first name and date of birth of the individual. The AIR will display the individual’s details if a record exists, and a new encounter can then be recorded. If you can’t find a unique match, conduct another search and also include the individual’s postcode.

Create a new record if one doesn’t already exist

If there isn’t a match after conducting a thorough search, a new record can be created by following the instructions: Create a new record using the AIR site.

Important: You will need to record a vaccination to create a new record.

Using software

Some software will transmit vaccination encounters for non-Medicare individuals to the AIR. Your software developer can provide further advice about this process.

Using a form uploaded via Health Professional Online Services (HPOS)

Providers without access to the AIR Site or software can record vaccination details using an official AIR form uploaded via HPOS.

Important: It can take up to 14 days to update an individual’s AIR record when a vaccination encounter is submitted using a form.

Where providers have difficulty submitting a vaccination encounter for non-Medicare individuals, they should contact AIR on 1800 653 809.

Under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 (AIR Act), it is mandatory to report all influenza, COVID-19, National Immunisation Program vaccines and Japanese encephalitis virus vaccines to the AIR. Further information about the Australian Immunisation Register is available on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.

Download this easy-to-read chart which outlines the process for updating vaccination data already submitted to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) site. Vaccination providers should promptly amend any incorrect encounters using the AIR site or their practice management software's update function to avoid delays and ensure accurate immunisation history, using the same provider number as the original vaccination reported.