Australian childhood immunisation coverage

Tables 1, 2 and 3 provide the latest quarterly report on childhood immunisation coverage from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR).

The data show the percentage of children ‘fully immunised’ at 12 months, 24 months and 5 years of age, for 3-month birth cohorts of children at the stated ages between 1 April and 30 June 2010. ‘Fully immunised’ refers to vaccines on the National Immunisation Program Schedule, but excludes rotavirus, pneumococcal conjugate, varicella, or meningococcal C conjugate vaccines, and is outlined in more detail below.

‘Fully immunised’ at 12 months of age is defined as a child having a record on the ACIR of 3 doses of a diphtheria (D), tetanus (T) and pertussis-containing (P) vaccine, 3 doses of polio vaccine, 2 or 3 doses of PRP-OMP containing Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine or 3 doses of any other Hib vaccine, and 2 or 3 doses of Comvax hepatitis B vaccine or 3 doses of all other hepatitis B vaccines. ‘Fully immunised’ at 24 months of age is defined as a child having a record on the ACIR of 3 or 4 doses of a DTP-containing vaccine, 3 doses of polio vaccine, 3 or 4 doses of PRP-OMP containing Hib vaccine or 4 doses of any other Hib vaccine, 3 or 4 doses of Comvax hepatitis B vaccine or 4 doses of all other hepatitis B vaccines, and 1 dose of a measles, mumps and rubella-containing (MMR) vaccine. ‘Fully immunised’ at 5 years of age is defined as a child having a record on the ACIR of 4 or 5 doses of a DTP-containing vaccine, 4 doses of polio vaccine, and 2 doses of an MMR-containing vaccine.

A full description of the basic methodology used can be found in Commun Dis Intell 1998;22:36–37.

The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (NCIRS) provides commentary on the trends in ACIR data. For further information please contact NCIRS at: telephone +61 2 9845 1435, E-mail: brynleyh@chw.edu.au

The percentage of children ‘fully immunised’ at 12 months of age for Australia increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 91.7% (Table 1). There were no important changes in coverage for any individual vaccines due at 12 months of age or by jurisdiction.

Table 1. Percentage of children immunised at 1 year of age, preliminary results by disease and state or territory for the birth cohort 1 April to 30 June 2009; assessment date 30 September 2010

Vaccine	State or territory								Aust
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Total number of children	1,233	24,054	1,031	15,792	4,862	1,622	17,551	7,825	73,970
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (%)	94.7	91.8	91.0	92.3	92.2	92.9	92.8	90.7	92.1
Poliomyelitis (%)	94.7	91.7	90.9	92.3	92.1	92.9	92.8	90.6	92.1
Haemophilus influenzae type b (%)	94.6	91.6	91.8	92.3	92.0	92.8	92.6	90.5	92.0
Hepatitis B (%)	94.2	91.5	90.7	92.1	91.7	92.8	92.3	90.3	91.8
Fully immunised (%)	94.2	91.4	90.5	92.1	91.6	92.7	92.2	90.3	91.7
Change in fully immunised since last quarter (%)	+2.0	+0.1	+0.2	+0.2	+0.3	+1.1	+0.1	+0.2	+0.2

The percentage of children ‘fully immunised’ at 24 months of age for Australia increased by 0.3 percentage points to 92.7 (Table 2). There were no important changes in coverage for any individual vaccines due at 24 months of age or by jurisdiction.

Table 2. Percentage of children immunised at 2 years of age, preliminary results by disease and state or territory for the birth cohort 1 April to 30 June 2008; assessment date 30 September 2010*

Vaccine	State or territory								Aust
	ACT	NSW	NT	Qld	SA	Tas	Vic	WA
Total number of children	1,160	23,847	944	15,723	4,813	1,589	17,323	7,840	73,239
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (%)	97.2	95.0	96.7	94.8	94.6	95.0	95.7	94.2	95.1
Poliomyelitis (%)	97.1	94.9	96.6	94.8	94.6	95.0	95.6	94.2	95.0
Haemophilus influenzae type b (%)	96.8	95.1