New national strategy sets five-year agenda for immunisation in Australia

Australia has a new immunisation action plan, after the launch of the far-reaching National Immunisation Strategy for Australia 2025–2030 at the Communicable Diseases and Immunisation Conference in Adelaide yesterday.

Announcing the Strategy to an audience of health professionals, federal health minister the Hon Mark Butler MP called it ‘a vision for a healthier Australia through immunisation’ and a guide to ‘the next chapter’ in immunisation policy and practice in the country.

Published by the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control and the Australian Government, the Strategy recommends a wide range of material steps in response to identified challenges in the vaccine landscape as at 2025.

Those challenges include ongoing declines in vaccination coverage rates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, related barriers to vaccine access and uptake, and a troubling increase in vaccine hesitancy and mistrust in the community.

As Minister Butler noted yesterday, NCIRS contributed heavily to the Strategy, in a partnership that included extensive consultation with immunisation stakeholders at all levels of government as well as the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector.

The rigorous development process also included a month-long public consultation phase, during which over 2,000 submissions were received.

The Strategy has been endorsed by all of the country’s state and territory health ministers.
 

Addressing inequities at heart of Strategy; NCIRS Director: ‘We can do better’

Structured based on six Priority Areas – each with accompanying strategic goals – the expansive Strategy offers not just a roadmap for the future but also a detailed picture of the here and now.

Among its recurring themes is the need for a renewed emphasis on community engagement and collaboration, particularly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other priority populations, to reduce identified inequities in vaccine access and uptake.

Speaking to ABC News about the release of the Strategy yesterday, NCIRS Director Professor Kristine Macartney said, ‘We can do better at ensuring that partnerships are made with the community to really share information, share knowledge and address access or acceptance gaps.’
 

Improving data quality among priorities; compensation scheme canvassed

In looking ahead, the Strategy emphasises the strong link between the quality and timeliness of Australian Immunisation Register, vaccine coverage, disease surveillance and related data and improved real-world outcomes – including to enable enhanced monitoring and evaluation of vaccination programs and the development of tailored, targeted, evidence-informed approaches.

Other Priority Areas relate to improving vaccine access and equity; improving community understanding, trust and acceptance of vaccines; strengthening of the immunisation workforce; leveraging of new technologies in immunisation programs; and enacting ‘sustainable reform’ in immunisation program governance.

Notably, the Strategy proposes that the feasibility of a no-fault vaccine injury compensation scheme be explored. Such schemes already exist in the US, the UK, New Zealand and elsewhere, and NCIRS experts have publicly advocated for Australia to follow suit.
 

‘One of the most comprehensive immunisation programs in the world’

While the Strategy arrives at a delicate moment for immunisation domestically and around the world, it also highlights considerable successes in Australia over the last five years.

Calling Australia’s immunisation program ‘one of the world’s most comprehensive’, it praises the country’s ‘excellent track record’ in responding to vaccine preventable diseases – including through the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program, ‘one of the most significant achievements in Australia’s public health history’.
 

Access the Strategy

This item originally appeared in NCIRS’ regular newsletter for health professionals, The Weekly Jab. Sign up here.