Preventable diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza, are still significant causes of serious illness and hospitalisation in older people.
Not being able to easily access an older person’s immunisation records can present a barrier to Facility and clinical managers can now apply for their residential care facility to access to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). This makes it easier for providers to:
- tell which people in their care are due or overdue for their vaccinations
- make sure each person’s vaccination status is accurately reported.
Making sure that older people living in aged care get their vaccinations when they’re due is vital. It’s an important part of delivering the high-quality, person-centred care they’re entitled to.
Key actions for service providers:
To meet these obligations and strengthened immunisation practices, we encourage providers to:
- Set up a vaccination tracker: develop or use a system to monitor and track older people’s vaccination status. Make sure you always know who’s due or overdue for vaccines. You can combine this with the AIR for real-time updates and reporting.
- Make sure your recording and reporting is timely: make sure all vaccines given are recorded in the AIR within the required timeframe, and as required by legislation.
- Keep accurate consent records: seek and keep records of valid consent for all vaccinations, following best practice guidelines and relevant state or territory laws. Valid consent is when a person chooses to consent to having a vaccination, after being given sufficient, appropriate and reliable information about the procedure, including the potential risks and benefits.
- Regularly review residents’ immunisation history: use the AIR or the resident’s My Health Record to check immunisation histories. This helps to:
- avoid giving people vaccines they don’t need
- identify people whose vaccinations are overdue.
- Engage with Public Health Units (PHU) and Primary Health Networks (PHN): Work with local PHUs and PHNs to:
- Assist in planning vaccination clinics
- access expert support for vaccine-related queries
- manage outbreaks
- For more information, see:
