All vaccines administered to a patient should be recorded by the vaccine provider to the AIR, irrespective of whether they were administered as part of the NIP or privately.
It is now mandatory to upload a record of administration of the following vaccines to the AIR:
- COVID-19
- seasonal influenza
- vaccines given under the National Immunisation Program (NIP)
- Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV)
Mandatory data elements when uploading a record include:
- relevant vaccines: COVID-19, influenza, NIP and JEV vaccines
- how to report: electronic, or if this is not reasonably practical then in written form
- when to report: within 24 hours, and no more than 10 working days after the vaccination
- personal information: Medicare number (if applicable), name, contact details, date of birth, gender
- vaccine information: brand name, dose number and batch number, date given, for COVID19 vaccines – vial serial number (if known)
- provider information: provider number, name and contact details.
The Department of Health and Aged Care’s Using the Australian Immunisation Register webpage contains information on:
- mandatory reporting to the AIR
- using the AIR to check a patient’s immunisation history
- identifying patients who are due/overdue a vaccine
- recording vaccine administration
- record accuracy
- vaccination information payments.
Update to COVID-19 vaccine names with the AIR
COVID-19 vaccine names will no longer display the manufacturer name within the AIR. For example, the ‘Pfizer Comirnaty XBB.1.5’ vaccine will display as ‘Comirnaty XBB.1.5’.
This simplifies the display of COVID-19 vaccines and aligns with how other vaccines are recorded in the AIR.
The AIR vaccine codes for COVID-19 vaccines remain the same. Further information about AIR vaccine codes and vaccine brand names is available on the Services Australia website.
Introduction of an antenatal indicator within the AIR
From 8 December 2024, a new bespoke antenatal indictor will be added to the AIR. This will allow vaccination providers to report to the AIR if the person is pregnant at the time of vaccine administration.
The collection of antenatal data is important to ensure the AIR contains a complete and reliable dataset to enable the monitoring of:
In addition, changes will be made to the ‘vaccine type’ field to simplify the reporting options available. This includes removing the ‘Private’ and ‘State funded’ options and replacing with ‘Other’.
These enhancements will be implemented in a phased approach as per the below:
Implementation date |
Change |
|
8 December 2024 |
Software developers will have the ability to build the new antenatal indicator into their clinical software products.
Vaccination providers using updated clinical software will have the ability to report the AIR the:
|
|
9 Februrary 2025 |
Vaccination providers using the AIR site will have the ability to report to the AIR the:
|
|
Between December 2024 and October 2025 |
Vaccination providers using clinical software with older technology will have the ability to continue to report antenatal information using the ‘vaccine type’ field. This includes the following options:
-
NIP/Commonwealth
-
Other
-
Antenatal.
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