Immunisation

Immunisation

Overview

The CWDGP Immunisation Program aims to assist practices achieve and maintain immunisation coverage rates of 90% or higher.  The focus of the immunisation program is to support and encourage participation of general practice in the General Practice Immunisation Incentives (GPII) Scheme as part of the National Immunisation Program (NIP).  The Division can also provide GPs and practice staff with a high level of education regarding Cold Chain Management.  

General Practice Immunisation Incentive (GPII) Scheme

The GPII scheme provides financial incentives to general practices that monitor, promote and provide immunisation services to children under the age of seven years.  Practices receive an Outcomes payment of $6.00 for each age based vaccinations schedule that is reported to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR).  They also receive an Outcomes Bonus payment of $3.50 per whole patient equivalent (WPE) if the practice coverage rate is 90% or above and the practice has at least 10 WPEs.  Rates are calculated quarterly according to the data supplied by the ACIR.

The Division can support practices to improve their immunisation coverage rates by providing:

  • education on how to use the ACIR secure internet site to report immunisation encounters
  • education on getting report off the ACIR site
  • education on data cleansing
  • recall and reminder systems

GPs and practice staff also have access to ACIR information maintained by Medicare Australia.  Proceed to the Medicare website related to ACIR, for more information and related forms.  Link for ACIR secure site access request and the ACIR data base.

Vaccine Management and Storage (Cold Chain)

To ensure potency of vaccines used in immunisation it is essential the vaccines temperatures be maintained between 2o and 8oC during transport and storage.  This is referred to as the Vaccine Cold Chain.  Any deviation from this temperature range will result in some degradation of the vaccine.  Exposure to temperatures outside the recommended range has a cumulative effect in reducing vaccine potency which cannot be reversed. The cold chain begins when vaccine is manufactured, moves through to their state or territory vaccines centre and ends with the immunisation provider at the time of administration to patient.  All GPs and practice staff should be familiar with the current National Vaccine Storage Guidelines "Strive for 5" (click here to download).

Approximately 10% of government spending on vaccines is lost through cold chain failure.  In our Division the loss varies from $4,000.00 or more per cold chain breach due to non purpose built vaccine fridges.  We want to ensure patients have not been exposed to non-viable vaccines and avoid having to recall for re-vaccination.  Purpose built vaccine fridges (PBVF) offer:

  • a stable, uniform and controlled cabinet temperature not affected by ambient temperatures
  • most internal space can be used for vaccine storage
  • are programmed to stay between 2o and 8oC with a quick recovery rate when needed, due to restocking etc. 
  • is less demanding and time consuming
  • are fitted with an alarm if temperature goes out of range

The Division can also assist practices with data logging of domestic vaccine fridges.  A logger will be sent to practices with instructions to place the logger in the centre of the fridge where recordings of the temperature are taken every fifteen minutes for a period of twelve days.  When the logger is returned to the Division, the information will be downloaded and a report sent to you on the performance of the vaccine fridge.  Request a logger for a specific reason or the Division Immunisation Project Officer will send a logger to each practice at least twice a year.

For any queries or information on the following, please contact your Practice Liaison Officer or Immunisation Project Officer.

  • purpose built fridges and suppliers
  • how to pack a fridge/esky
  • cold chain management
  • vaccines storage guidelines

 

News and Updates

TGA Updated Advice for Gardasil

Key points:
  • Update in number of doses distributed (over 6 million doses distributed in Australia)
  • Update in number of reported adverse events with conclusion that overall number of suspected adverse events is very low and consistent with other vaccines and adverse events reported in other countries
  • Majority of adverse events mild in nature and well recognised (injection site reactions etc); 20% of events are "psychogenic" and related to process of vaccination
  • Incidence of anaphylaxis (2.2 cases per million;13 reports to Nov 2009) is within rates for other vaccines
  • Summary of investigation into neurological events reported after Gardasil adminstration with conclusion that rate of such events not higher than would be expected to occur by chance
Full Document PDF form

 

Health Professionals Online Services

Health professionals can access Medicare Australia's online services through a single entry point.  The new Health Professionals Online Services (HPOS) website will make it easier for you to work with Medicare Australia.  Access to HPOS requires a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) individual certificate.  If you do not have an individual certificate, you can request one through the Register for PKI link on the HPOS logon page.  To log on to the HPOS, visit www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/providers and click on the HPOS link.  If you already have a PKI individual certificate this can now be used to access the ACIR secure site via the HPOS website.  ACIR can also be accessed useing your existing logon - authenitication file and password.  HPOS quick reference guide download.  HPOS also offers two new services for health professionals:

  1. adding a new Medicare practice location number in real time
  2. receiving bulk bill statements online

For more information on HPOS call 1800 700 199 and select option 5.

Changes to the National Due and Overdue Rules for childhood immunisation

The National Due and Overdue Rules used by the ACIR to determine whether a child is considered up-to-date with immunisation, changed on 1 January 2009.  The change applies to the four year vaccination schedule for children born from 1 January 2005 and is neccessary to support changes to the Maternity Immunisation Allowance paid to families.  The rules now state that the child is overdue at four years and one month, bringing this rule in line with all other age schedules.  The GPII Practice Report (GPII020A) identifies children who are not up-to-date with their immunisation according to the ACIR.  This report can be used to help identify children that are overdue and maintain the immunisation coverage levels required for the GPII outcomes payment.

Related links for Health Professionals

Downloads and Resources