Navigating vaccination for immunocompromised patients: New Handbook guidance 

Nicholas Wood is a staff specialist general paediatrician and Professor in Clinical Vaccinology at the University of Sydney. Nick holds an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship. He leads the NSW Immunisation Specialist Service and coordinates the Immunisation Adverse Events Clinic at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. He is a senior investigator on the Primary Health Network Immunisation Support Program.

Phoebe Williams is a staff specialist paediatrician, infectious diseases physician and NHMRC Fellow within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. Phoebe completed her MSc and PhD with the Oxford Tropical Medicine Network and has a research interest focused on reducing infant and child mortality due to infectious diseases, particularly in low- and middle-income country settings. 

Xia Wang has a background in clinical epidemiology and pharmacology. She has extensive research experience in clinical and translational research projects, including clinical trials, evidence-based policy and clinical guideline development, as well as health service evaluation and implementation. In her current role at NCIRS, she leads evidence synthesis to support updates to the Australian Immunisation Handbook, including recent work on the chapter addressing immunocompromised people. 

Madeline Hall is a Nurse Practitioner specialising in vaccine preventable diseases and with a special interest in vaccine safety. She has extensive experience in vaccine preventable diseases and is involved in advanced health assessments and risk screening of adults with specific vaccination requirements, such as persons who have had a previous serious or unexpected adverse event following immunisation, immunocompromised persons and those at occupational risk. Madeline was a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) from 2012–2021 and has been a member of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines since 2020. 

Benjamin Teh is an infectious diseases physician and clinical researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the National Centre for Infections in Cancer. His research interests encompass translational immune profiling, clinical studies of infection risks with new cancer therapies and vaccination in cancer patients. 

Katie Flanagan is a clinician scientist who has worked on global health issues for more than 25 years. She is a Senior Staff Specialist at Westmead Hospital in Sydney and holds academic positions as Clinical Professor at the University of Tasmania and Adjunct Professor at RMIT University in Melbourne. She recently stepped down as Director of Infectious Diseases at Launceston General Hospital. Katie’s main research interests are in the fields of vaccinology and infectious diseases immunology. She has led numerous vaccine immunology trials throughout the world, including trials of novel malaria and HIV vaccines in African infants and trials of the immunological effects of commonly used vaccines in young and older people.