Immunisation, often called vaccination, helps to protect your child from infectious diseases. It’s one of the best ways of improving your child’s health and wellbeing and stopping diseases from spreading in your community.
Why immunisation is important
National Immunisation Program (NIP)
Extra immunisations for special circumstances
Where to get immunisations
Immunisation: costs and family payments
Australian Childhood Immunisation Register
Why immunisation is important
Immunisation protects your child from serious illnesses, some of which can be life threatening.
When your child is immunised against a particular disease, it helps protect him from that disease. For example, polio immunisation helps protect your child against polio.
Immunisation is also good for you and your child because it stops infectious diseases spreading in the community. Sometimes, immunisation can get rid of these diseases completely, such as in the case of smallpox.
This happens through herd immunity.
Herd immunity is when enough people in the community are immunised against a disease, and the spread of the bacteria or virus that causes the disease either slows down or stops completely. We need herd immunity to protect vulnerable children who might not be able to get immunised because they’re too young or have a serious illness – for example, a weak immune system.
Vaccines, vaccination and immunisation You might hear the terms vaccine, vaccination and immunisation:
A vaccine helps protects you from a disease. It’s a medicine.
Vaccination means actually getting the vaccine, either by mouth or through injection.
Immunisation means both getting the vaccine and being protected from the disease.
Most people use ‘vaccination’ and ‘immunisation’ to mean the same thing, although they’re not quite the same. This article uses the term ‘immunisation’ throughout.
Some of the diseases we immunise against aren’t as common in Australia as they once were, because of Australia’s long-term immunisation program. But immunisation is still essential to stop these diseases from coming back.
National Immunisation Program (NIP)
The Australian National Immunisation Program (NIP) recommends and funds immunisation against 13 diseases for Australian children aged 0-4 years.
Immunisations are scheduled for the ages when your child is at greatest risk of a vaccine-preventable disease and for when your child’s immune system can respond best to the vaccine for that disease. Some vaccinations need to be given two or three times at different ages to complete the immunisation. The vaccine has been tested and declared safe to give at the recommended ages.
Birth At this age, your child will get one immunisation, which will help protect her from hepatitis B.
6-8 weeks At this age, your child will get three immunisations:
The first immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough,
Haemophilus influenzae
type b and polio.
The second immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from pneumococcus.
The third immunisation will help protect your child from rotavirus. This immunisation is given by mouth.
The number of recommended immunisations for rotavirus is different depending on the brand of vaccine used. One rotavirus vaccine needs two doses in total, whereas another rotavirus vaccine needs three doses in total. Rotavirus vaccines must be given at specific ages. The first dose must be given before 13 weeks and the last dose before 8 months.
4 months At this age, your child will get three immunisations:
The first immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough,
Haemophilus influenzae
type b and polio.
The second immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from pneumococcus.
The third immunisation is given by mouth and will help protect your child from rotavirus.
6 months At this age, your child will get two or three immunisations:
The first immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough,
Haemophilus influenzae
type b and polio.
The second immunisation is given by injection and will help protect your child from pneumococcus.
Your child might get a third immunisation to help protect him from rotavirus, depending on which brand of rotavirus vaccine has been used previously. This immunisation is given by mouth.
12 months At this age, your child will get two immunisations, both given by injection:
The first immunisation will help protect your child from
Haemophilus influenzae
type b, and meningococcal C.
The second immunisation will help protect your child from measles, mumps and rubella.
18 months At this age, your child will get one immunisation. This will be given by injection and will help protect your child from measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
3½-4 years At this age, your child will get one immunisation. This will be given by injection and will help protect your child from diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio.
You can read more about the NIP at Immunise Australia.
Extra immunisations for special circumstances
In addition to the immunisations offered to all children under the NIP, other immunisations are recommended for children who are considered at a higher risk of getting certain diseases and having health problems.
These children include:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
children with certain underlying medical conditions, like conditions that affect the immune system, or chronic lung or heart conditions
children who were born prematurely
children travelling overseas.
Some immunisations for children who have a higher risk of disease are funded under the NIP – for example, influenza and hepatitis A immunisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in certain states and territories of Australia.
If you think your child might be in one of these high-risk groups and might need extra immunisations, talk with your doctor or immunisation provider. You might also have to do a questionnaire to find out more about any additional immunisation your child needs.
Where to get immunisations
Your child can get the immunisations recommended on the NIP schedule from several places, including:
GP clinics
community health clinics and Aboriginal community health services
local government immunisation clinics (which usually operate only on specific days).
GPs can give other immunisations that are not on the NIP schedule, such as those needed by children with medical conditions, as well as some travel immunisations. Travel immunisation clinics can also give you advice and all of the immunisations your child needs for travel.
To get immunisations that are not funded under the NIP, you will need a prescription for the vaccine from your child’s doctor.
There are specialist immunisation clinics in most states and territories. These clinics are for children who’ve had an adverse reaction to a previous immunisation or are in a high-risk group, or for families who are concerned about immunising their children. You usually need a referral from your GP or specialist to go to one of these clinics.
Your GP, child and family health nurse or paediatrician is the best person to talk with about immunisation. Your child’s health professionals know you and your child best. They’ll listen to you, take the time to answer your questions, and give you the most up-to-date information about immunisation.
Immunisation: costs and family payments
The Australian Government funds the immunisations on the NIP schedule.
You don’t normally pay for immunisation if your child gets this service at a community or council health clinic. But if you go to the GP for your child’s immunisation, you might have to pay a consultation fee (even though the vaccine itself is free).
If your child needs extra immunisations that aren’t part of the NIP schedule – for example, the annual influenza vaccine for a healthy child, or travel vaccines – you might need to get a prescription for the vaccine and buy it from a pharmacy. Some doctors might have these vaccines available in their clinics. The costs of vaccines vary depending on the type of vaccine, the formula and where you buy it from.
Your child’s immunisation status can affect your eligibility for certain government family payments, unless you’re eligible for an exemption. Speak to your GP if you think you might be eligible for an exemption.
For example, for you to get Family Tax Benefit Part A, your children must be ‘fully immunised’ against certain diseases by the end of the financial years in which your child turns turn one, two and five years old.
The eligibility criteria for the Australian Government Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate also take your child’s immunisation status into account.
In some states, you also need to provide evidence of your child’s immunisation status for entry to kindergarten and primary school.
All immunisations linked to family assistance payments are funded under the NIP. You can find more information about family assistance payments and immunisation at Australian Government Department of Human Services – Immunising your children.
Australian Childhood Immunisation Register
The Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) is a national register that records all immunisations given to children aged 0-7 years.
You don’t have to do anything to put your child onto the ACIR. It happens automatically once your child is enrolled in Medicare.
The ACIR allows you to easily keep track of your child’s immunisation history. The ACIR automatically sends out your child’s immunisation history statement when she’s 18 months and again at 5 years. But you can request a copy of your child’s immunisation history at any time.
Your child’s immunisation history statement is a useful personal record. You can also use it as proof that your child is up to date with recommended immunisations. You might need this proof to enrol your child at child care or to show you’re eligible for some government family benefits.
Note: your child is considered not up to date if he hasn’t had his immunisation within one month of when the immunisation is recommended.
The ACIR is also very useful for health care professionals. You can give your GP permission to access your child’s ACIR records, which can help with planning what immunisations your child needs and when. Public health professionals also use this information to check how many children aren’t immunised, which is particularly important when there are risks of disease outbreaks.
You can request your child’s immunisation history statement from Medicare. You can also call the ACIR on 1800 653 809.