Immunisation records and registers

An immunisation record refers to a person’s immunisation history and includes details about when and what vaccines have been administered.

Australian Immunisation Register

Medicare, Department of Human Services hosts the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), the national register that records vaccines given to people of all ages living in Australia. The AIR records all National Immunisation Program (NIP), State funded and privately purchased vaccines.This now includes all vaccines previously entered on the HPV register.

Health professionals administering vaccines should report this information to the AIR.

Immunisation History Statements

Immunisation History Statements may be necessary for child care, and school enrolment, employment at certain workplaces and are currently used to determine eligibility for some family assistance payments under the No Jab No Pay Policy. Immunisation history statements are available from the AIR.

Statements are automatically generated upon completion of the childhood vaccination schedule (usually around four years of age) and are mailed to the address most recently recorded by Medicare for that individual. Parents of children under 14 years of age, and young individuals between 14 and 20 years, can obtain an AIR Statement.

AIR Statements can be accessed in the following ways:

• Online through MyGov once an account has been created
• Medicare Express Plus App - once a MyGov account has been created
• Over the counter - at a Medicare Service Centre
• Phone - call AIR on 1800 653 809

Vaccinations given through school programs should also appear in this statement.

School Immunisation Records

Students who received vaccines through the School Immunisation Program are provided with a School Immunisation Program - Personal Immunisation Record at the time they are immunised. All vaccines given in the school program are submitted to the AIR. The National HPV Vaccination Program Register (HPV Register) collected information of individuals vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) up until 1 November 2018. Now all HPV vaccination records have been transferred onto the AIR.

School Immunisation Program immunisation records are included on Immunisation history statements. For incomplete records or for copies of school immunisation records prior to 1996, contact the immunisation provider (PDF 456KB) who administered the vaccines; in most cases this is the local council where the school is located.

Health professionals: Registering and accessing the AIR

Medical practitioners, midwives or nurse practitioners with a Medicare provider number are automatically recognised as vaccination providers and are authorised to record, and or report the data to the AIR and can also extract certain immunisation data from the AIR. These health professionals need a PRODA account to access the AIR as the Department of Human Services will be turning off individual authentication files in the near future.

Further information is available on the Department of Human Services website.

Medical practices

Medical practice staff can only use their practice’s AIR provider number to access the AIR site using an authentication file. Medical practices must apply to become a recognised vaccination provider on the AIR to access the AIR site. Refer to the How to obtain a Practice Logon to the AIR Information Guide (PDF 298KB). Refer to the AIR access for general practice nurses and staff: Flow Chart for additional information.

Other vaccination providers (such as pharmacists)

Other vaccination providers must apply to become a recognised vaccination provider to access the AIR site. Refer to the How to register as a vaccination provider and obtain access to the AIR Information Guide (PDF 298KB).