NSW annual immunisation coverage report, 2010

This annual report, the second in the series, documents trends in immunisation coverage in NSW for children, adolescents and the elderly, to the end of 2010.

Data from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register, the NSW School Immunisation Program and the NSW Population Health Survey were used to calculate various measures of population coverage, coverage for Aboriginal children and vaccination timeliness for all children.

Over 90% coverage has been reached for children at 12 and 24 months of age. For children at 5 years of age there was an improvement during 2010 in timeliness for vaccines due at 4 years and coverage almost reached 90%. Delayed receipt of vaccines is still an issue for Aboriginal children. For adolescents, there is good coverage for the first and second doses of human papillomavirus vaccine and the dose of diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis. The pneumococcal vaccination rate in the elderly has been steadily rising, although it has remained lower than the influenza coverage estimates.

Completion of the recommended immunisation schedule at the earliest appropriate age should be the next public health goal at both the state and local health district level. Official coverage assessments for 'fully immunised' should include the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate and meningococcal C vaccines, and wider dissemination should be considered.