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Information on the national vaccination program

Now that a vaccine against the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus is available, Australian Governments are offering the vaccine as a priority for certain groups at higher risk of exposure (for example, health care workers) and those vulnerable to more severe outcomes, including pregnant women, indigenous people and people with underlying medical conditions. While there will be a particular emphasis on targeting people in these priority groups for vaccination, the opportunistic vaccination of friends, family, and carers of vulnerable people or anyone wishing to protect themselves from pandemic (H1N1) 2009 is also encouraged.

Experience from other countries shows that this is not just a winter influenza. It can continue to spread in Australia’s summer months. Vaccination is the safest response for the community, particularly people at increased risk of severe outcomes, many of whom have suffered serious health consequences.

Guidance and information for Health Professionals

• ATAGI Advice on use of seasonal and pandemic vaccines in children under 10 years of age and a summary of dosage recommendations
• Latex Allergies
• Health Professional Information Sheet
  • Printable one page summary
• Guideline on Multi Dose Vials
• Priority Groups
• Kids Vaccine Q&As
• Q&A for vaccination providers
• General Community vaccine Q&A
• Patient Consent Form
• Patient Information Handout
• Links to State and Territory vaccination information
• CSL Panvax® Website
• ATAGI Vaccine Advice
• Medicare Statement for Pandemic Vaccination Services

Latex Allergies

A short term adverse reaction has occurred at the time of vaccination in a person with an allergy to latex. However, the true cause of this event has not been determined and is currently being investigated by the TGA through their normal process.

The pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine and vial is latex free. The Department of Health and Ageing has investigated the 1mL syringe in the vaccination packs and confirmed it contains latex.

In line with the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) guidelines for hospital management of patients with latex allergies, while the association is not proven a prudent approach is to use a syringe that you know to be latex free for those who have a latex allergy.

We will continue to investigate this issue and will keep you informed of progress.


Professor Jim Bishop AO
MD MMed MBBS FRACP FRCPA
Australian Government Chief Medical Officer

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Health Professional Information Sheet

• Health Professional Information Sheet – 3 December 2009 (PDF 79 KB)
  • Printable one page summary - Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccination program: Summary for General Practice (PDF 36 KB)

Guideline on Multi Dose Vials

Open the Guideline for the administration of pandemic (H1N1) influenza vaccine from multi-dose vials (MDV) prepared by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) (PDF 799 KB)

18 September 2009: This protocol aims to ensure MDV are used appropriately; to prevent the potential transmission of infectious diseases; to minimise the potential risk of vial contamination; to minimise the potential risk of medical errors; to reduce potential wastage associated with the use of multi-dose vials; and to ensure the delivery of a potent vaccine to the patient.

Note: Standard precautions following the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing “Infection control guidelines for the prevention of transmission of infectious diseases in the health care setting” must be adhered to at all times.

Office-based practices (including general practices) must adhere to the RACGP Infection Control Standards for Office-Based Practices, 4th Edition.

In addition, procedures need to be applied in accordance with relevant steps outlined in Chapter 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 of The Australian Immunisation Handbook, 9th Edition, 2008.



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Priority Groups

1 September 2009: In Australia, the pandemic vaccination program will be focused on vaccinating certain groups at higher risk of exposure (for example, health care workers) and those vulnerable to more severe outcomes as identified in the PROTECT annex to the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza; including pregnant women, indigenous people and people with underlying medical conditions. Table 1 provides further details on these priority groups.

While emphasis will be on targeting these priority groups, the opportunistic vaccination of friends, family, and carers of vulnerable people or anyone who wishes to protect themselves from pandemic influenza is also encouraged.

Table 1: Australian Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccine priority groups

Target group	Definition
Pregnant women	All pregnant women
Those children and adults with underlying chronic medical conditions including:	Requires clinical judgement
•  Chronic respiratory conditions	Including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
•  Immuno-suppression	Including HIV/AIDS infection, use of immunosuppressive drugs
•  Cancer	Only malignant cancers
•  Diabetes mellitus
•  Cardiac disease	Not including simple hypertension
•  Chronic Renal disease
•  Chronic metabolic diseases
•  Haemoglobinopathies
•  Chronic neurological diseases
Individuals with moderate to severe obesity	BMI > 35
Health care and community care workers (including volunteers and students)	Health care worker : a person who has direct contact with patients, either in the community or hospital setting, in both public and private practice settings, focusing on the following: •  All staff within or working with Aboriginal Medical Services, general practice, remote or community health clinics, and ambulance services. •  All hospital and outpatient staff focusing on those who have direct patient contact. •  All staff working in acute care clinics/satellite clinics that provide care, limited to diabetic clinics, alcohol and drug rehabilitation, dialysis and oncology services and perinatal care. Community and residential care workers: Aged care and disability services workers who have direct patient contact while providing community and residential services to vulnerable groups.
Indigenous people and remote and isolated communities with vulnerable people	Self identification of indigenous. Examples of remote and isolated communities include research communities in the Australian Antarctic Territory and subantarctic islands (vaccination to be provided prior to departure).
Children in special schools	Children in schools and institutions that are exclusively special needs based. This does not include mainstream schools with special needs programs.
Parents and Guardians of children aged 0 to 6 months	Parents and Guardian (primary carers) of children aged 0 to 6 months

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Patient Consent Form

• Patient consent form (PDF 137 KB)
  • Other languages

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Patient Information Handout

• Patient Information handout (PDF 176 KB)

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Links to State and Territory vaccination information (contact phone numbers for vaccination provider use only)

NSW	Contact your Public Health Unit Contact details for the 17 public health offices in NSW Area Health Service Areas can be found at: www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/Infectious/phus.asp and http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/swine_flu.asp
Victoria	http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ideas/diseases/swine-influenza and http://www.health.vic.gov.au/pandemicinfluenza/general_practice.htm	1300 882 008
Queensland	Contact your Population Health Unit http://access.health.qld.gov.au/hid/InfectionsandParasites/ViralInfections/swineFlu2009_fs.asp and http://www.health.qld.gov.au/swineflu/html/hc_resources.asp
WA	http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/2/949/2/swine_flu.pm and http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/3/952/3/human_swine_flu_health_providers.pm	1800 243 522
SA	http://www.flu.sa.gov.au/ and http://www.health.sa.gov.au/pandemicinfluenza/	(08) 8226 7177
NT	http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Centre_for_Disease_Control/index.aspx and http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Emergency_Management_and_Disaster_Arrangements/Pandemic/index.aspx	(08) 8922 8044
Tasmania	http://www.pandemic.tas.gov.au/ and http://www.pandemic.tas.gov.au/what_does_it_mean_to_you/health_sector	1800 358 362
ACT	http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=da&did=10098808&pid=1240874209 and http://www.health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=da&did=11044035&pid=1242181681	(02) 6205 2300

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ATAGI Vaccine Advice

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) provides advice to the Minister for Health and Ageing on the Immunise Australia Program and other related issues. In addition to technical experts, ATAGI’s membership includes a consumer and general practitioners.

• ATAGI advice on the Recommended clinical protocol for the administration of pandemic (H1N1) influenza vaccine from multi-dose vials (MDV) for children aged >6 months to <3years and for all people aged >3 years (PDF 89 KB)
• ATAGI Advice regarding the use of pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines in children <10 years of age (PDF 116 KB)
  • Summary of ATAGI dosage recommendations for children aged <10 years (PDF 109 KB) Updated 25 January
• ATAGI Advice regarding the use of influenza vaccines containing thiomersal (PDF 119 KB)
• ATAGI Advice regarding influenza, influenza vaccines and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (PDF 103 KB)
• ATAGI guidance on use of latex-containing 1 mL syringes from pandemic vaccination packs (PDF 31 KB)
• ATAGI statement on the use of MDVs (24 September 2009) (PDF 33 KB)
  

  Medicare Statement for Pandemic Vaccination Services

• Medicare Statement for Pandemic Vaccination Services (PDF 12 KB)

If you are having difficulty downloading the PDF document(s) please email webmaster@health.gov.au and we will arrange for an alternative format or a copy to be sent to you.