Immunisation Resources
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Immunisation in NSW
Immunisation Toolkit for General Practices
This Toolkit was developed to support general practices to implement the NSW Immunisation Program.
NSW Health have developed this Toolkit to support general practices
Funded vaccines
NIP vaccines (NIP funded)
- NSW Immunisation Schedule updated October 2021 - NSW Health no longer supplies printed copies
- Poster: A3 NSW Childhood Immunisation Schedule - order form
- Poster: Recommended sites for childhood vaccination in NSW
- Pneumococcal funding - July 2021
- Tear off pad: Following vaccination – what to expect
Funded catch-up vaccine (NIP funded)
- Catch up vaccines for 10 to 19 years
- Catch-up vaccines for 20 years and over (for refugees and humanitarian entrants)
Funded NSW vaccine (NSW Health funded)
Recommended vaccines (funded and non-funded)
Recommended vaccines
- Recommended vaccines: For non-Indigenous Australians - NCIRS
- Recommended vaccines: For Indigenous Australians - NCIRS
- Recommended vaccines in Pregnancy: Influenza and pertussis vaccination in pregnancy - Clinical Advice
- Vaccination for health ageing (50 years and over) - Australian Immunisation Handbook
Additional recommended vaccines for at-risk patients
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination for carers
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination for adults (over 50 years)
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination for people working with animals
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination for occupational risk
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination of migrants & refugees
- Australian Immunisation Handbook | Vaccination in pregnancy & breastfeeding
Australian Immunisation Handbook
- Download Handbook App on your mobile phone
- Digital Handbook - online version for your computer
- Pre-vaccination checklist
- Catch-up Calculator (for <10 years)
- Poster: Vaccination for health ageing
Zostavax / Shingrix
- ATAGI: Clinical use of Zoster vaccine in older adults in Australia (October 2021)
- NSW Health: Zostavax Screening Tool
- GSK: Shingrix Product Information
Gardasil
- ATAGI | Jan 22 | Gardasil-9 in the school-based NIP
Pneumococcal
- Immunisation Coalition | PneumoSmart Vaccination Tool - Nov 2020
- DOH | Pneumococcal – Clinical advice
- DOH | Pneumococcal vaccination – Clinical decision tree
- AIH | Pneumococcal vaccination
- AIH | Pneumococcal vaccination for <5 years (infographic)
- AIH | Pneumococcal vaccination for all Australians (infographic)
- AIH | Pneumococcal vaccination for people with risk conditions for pneumococcal disease (infographic)
Meningococcal
- Australian Prescriber | Meningococcal vaccination by age and risk group
- AIH | Meningococcal vaccination for people in a special risk group (infographic)
- AIH | Meningococcal vaccination for children and adolescents without risk factors (infographic)
Measles
Other vaccine information sheets
- Keeping up with vaccinations - What’s new, what’s available and who to ask for help (peer reviewed)
- Fact sheets and FAQs (NCIRS) on various diseases and vaccines such as HIB, Influenza, HPV, Meningococcal, Zoster, resources for adressing patient/parent concerns about immunisation and more
- NEW Measles vaccines for Australians (NCIRS)
- NEW Meningococcal vaccine 2019 recommendations by age and risk group - Australian Prescriber
- pdf Q Fever information for GP (468 KB) s
- pdf Rabies Vaccination and Post Exposure Protocol (141 KB)
- HPV fact sheet (NCIRS)
- HPV FAQs (NCIRS)
- Approach to influenza vaccination in patients with a history of Guillain–Barre Syndrome - AusVaxSafety
- pdf Following up overdue children (164 KB) - CESPHN guideline
Anaphylaxis Kit
Minimum requirements for an anaphylaxis kit:
- Anaphylaxis response kit - requirements as per Australian Immunisation Handbook
- One kit per treatment room
- Check adrenaline expiry date
Anaphylaxis e-Training
The ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training course for health professionals 2021
- This course was developed by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA).
- This free anaphylaxis course takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete and is suitable for all health professionals, including medical practitioners and nurses.
Download resources
- Anaphylaxis response kit - minimum requirements as per Immunisation Handbook
- Managing anaphylaxis after vaccination - poster from the Immunisation Handbook
- Anaphylaxis wallchart or order from Australian Prescriber: A3 poster
- Adrenaline dose chart - Australian Prescriber
GP requirement: Basic Life Support
- BLS training requirements - and how often does this need to be renewed? RACGP
Adverse Events Following Immunisation
What is an AEFI?
NSW Health: What is a serious adverse event?
Health professionals are required to report suspected reactions, known as adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) particularly if they are unexpected or significant.
Reporting AEFIs
If a patient has an immediate serious reaction or is unwell in the days after a vaccination, you must report this via:
- Submit AEFI reporting form to TGA or submit online form
and
- Notify Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055 or email MOH-COVIDaefi@health.nsw.gov.au
AEFI resource for parents
- Following vaccination - what to expect - order free pad from DOH
Vaccine safety
COVID-19 vaccine safety
- TGA: COVID-19 vaccine weekly safety report
- AusVaxSafety: COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance
General vaccine safety & resources
- AusVaxSafety - Vaccine Safety Data 2019
- Safety data - AusVaxSafety active vaccine safety surveillance system
COVID-19 vaccine administration errors
ATAGI guidelines on the management of a range of possible vaccine administration errors, including when a replacement (repeat) dose is recommended.
General advice on vaccine errors
-
Advice relating to patient:
- Open disclosure of the incident to the patient/parents of the patient.
- Inform patient of any expected side effects and possible remedies to help with side effects.
- Arrange follow up appointment for patient with GP - mainly as a health check, but also to maintaining the GP/patient relationship.
- Give the Patient/Parents HCCC contact details in case they want to report a complaint:
- Email: hccc@hccc.nsw.gov.au
- Phone: 92197444
-
Advice relating to practice:
- Usual incident reporting process within the practice
- Inform the practice Insurer
- Review practice policies/process to avoid error in future
-
Clinical advice:
- Send patient to Emergency Department if patient clinically unwell
- Contact NSWISS if clinical advice is required (eg revaccination advice)
- Email: SCHN-NSWISS@health.nsw.gov.au
- Phone: 1800679477 or 98451414
- For accidental overdose see below.
-
Reporting
- If patient develops any symptoms:
- Complete an AEFI reporting form and
- contact your local public health unit on 1300 066 055
- For COVID-19 vaccinations, send an error report to Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC): COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au
- If patient develops any symptoms:
Accidental overdose
- If an accidental overdose occurs, it is recommended to observe vital signs and, if symptomatic, to treat the symptoms. There are no specific overdose symptoms to be aware of.
- Follow the above Advice on Vaccine Errors - This error must be recorded through your normal jurisdictional medication error reporting systems.
- For more information, the Poisons Information Centre may be contacted on 131 126.
Clinical tools
Catch-up Calculator (for children under 10 years) - Australian Immunisation Handbook
Catch-up guide: Measles vaccination - NCIRS
Clinical Resources
- Minimum intervals - Catch up for <10 years
- Minimum age for 1st dose
- Number of doses by age - for < 10 years
- Doses and minimum interval - Catch up for ≥10 years
- Hib catch up - for <5 years
- Rotarix - upper age limit
- HepB - for adolescents and adults
Guidelines
- Catch-up vaccination - Australian Immunisation Handbook
- Catch-up vaccination for adolescents and adults - Australian Immunisation Handbook
- Table: Number of vaccine doses the child should have received by their current age - Australian Immunisation Handbook
- Table: Minimum acceptable dose intervals for children less than 10 years of age - Australian Immunisation Handbook
- Catch-up immunisations - Department of Health
- WHO immunisation schedules by country
- Foreign Language Terms - aids to translating foreign immunisation records
- Service NSW document translation service
Funding for catch up vaccines
- Free catch up on vaccines for under 20s brochure
- Free catch-up vaccines for all individuals aged 10 to 19 years (ongoing) - Department of Health
- Free catch-up vaccines for refugees and humanitarian entrants aged 20 years and over (ongoing) - Department of Health
Ordering vaccines
Order NIP vaccines from the NSW Vaccine Centre, once you have a vaccine account number:
- Log in to the NSW Vaccine Centre online ordering system
- Read NSW Vaccine Centre User guide for providers (Dec 2020)
- NSW Vaccine centre phone: 1300 656 132
Notifications
The Commonwealth has advised states/territories of a major international supply issue affecting the combination measles, mumps rubella varicella (MMRV) vaccines for children at 18 months of age. It is likely to continue throughout the whole of 2022. The NSW Vaccine Centre has:
- placed tight restrictions on the quantities of MMRV vaccines that providers can order
- advised that catch up vaccination of older children should be done with separate MMR and varicella vaccines
The use of the separate vaccines for children aged 18 months should not be needed but may be required down the track if the supply issues are not resolved.
How to apply for a new VAN
To request new a vaccine account, email your Public Health Unit (PHU) with your contact details:
- South Eastern Sydney PHU: SESLHD-PublicHealthUnit-IMMTeam@health.nsw.gov.au
- Sydney PHU: SLHD-Immunisation@health.nsw.gov.au
- Phone: in NSW calling 1300 066 055 will direct to your local Public Health Unit
How to update VAN details with the PHU:
- SESLHD pdf form (83 KB)
Which PHU does my practice belong to?
- Check my practice postcode here
Forms
- Vaccine Account Number (VAN) application form
GP Fax from NSW Health
Vaccine Hesitancy training
SKAI (Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation)
- Education on Vaccine Hesitancy and Communication strategies for immunisation providers
Yellow Fever learning module
- Existing yellow fever practitioners need to complete the learning module every 3 years, and keep certificates on file at the practice for evidence – no need to notify NSW Health.
- New yellow fever practitioners need to complete the learning module, and notify NSW Health by completing Change of Details form and emailing to MOH-vaccreports@health.nsw.gov.au within 7 days
Yellow Fever FAQs
See below information from NSW Health – Yellow fever FAQs
- We are an existing yellow fever vaccination centre. Who do we notify once existing individual practitioners have completed the course?
Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres will be required to maintain a log of all practitioners prescribing the vaccine and evidence that they have successfully completed of the online Yellow Fever Vaccination Learning Module. NSW Health will receive a training log to monitor compliance against the new training requirements. You are not required to submit the certificates of completion to NSW Health.
- We are an existing yellow fever vaccination centre do we need to be reaccredited?
No, reaccreditation is not required.
Existing individual practitioners in your centre are required to complete the course within the next 3 years, i.e.by 26 November 2021. All new practitioners seeking to provide yellow fever vaccination will need to complete the online module before they can prescribe yellow fever vaccination in your centre. Any change of details including change of individual practitioners must be notified to MOH-vaccreports@health.nsw.gov.au within 7 days using the change of details form.
- How do we notify a change of details for an existing yellow fever vaccination centre?
Any change of details including change of individual practitioners must be notified to MOH-Vaccreports@health.nsw.gov.au within 7 days using the change of details form.
You can contact your local public health unit on 1300 066 055 for any further advice.