Using the Australian Immunisation Register to support general practices to improve childhood vaccination rates

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatrics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Strategies to improve childhood vaccination rates are crucial for public health.
• General practices play a key role in administering routine immunizations.
• Identifying and addressing overdue vaccinations in children remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a supported general practice intervention aimed at increasing vaccination coverage for overdue children.
• To assess the impact of public health nurse support on identifying and following up on children with incomplete immunization schedules.

Main Methods:

• A public health nurse provided support to 23 general practices with high numbers of overdue children between 2017 and 2018.
• A comparison group of overdue children from other practices was established.
• The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) was reviewed in 2019 to assess vaccination status and data accuracy.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed a significant increase in the correction of vaccination records for immunizations administered before the intervention.
• However, the intervention did not lead to a statistically significant increase in overall vaccination rates for overdue children.
• Data accuracy on the AIR improved, indicating better recording of existing vaccinations.

Conclusions:

• Providing support to general practices can enhance the accuracy of vaccination data recorded in the Australian Immunisation Register.
• Simple reminder-based interventions are unlikely to be sufficient to increase vaccination rates among children who are genuinely overdue for immunizations.
• Further research may be needed to identify more effective strategies for improving vaccination uptake in this population.