1997
1997
National Centre for immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) established
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In the beginning – a National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases – 1997

In 1997, the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (now the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care) put out a call to tender for selection to host the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (NCIRS). It was recognised that although studies of immunisation coverage and vaccine preventable diseases had been undertaken by several groups around Australia, much of the work needed to inform vaccination policy was not eligible for competitive research funding. Low childhood immunisation coverage, and national outbreaks of measles (1993) and pertussis (1997) prompted a “Seven Point Plan” to address these issues, with establishing a national centre a key component. 

Permanent, high-level expertise, like that available through the Centers for Disease Control in the United States of America and the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (now UK Health Security Agency) in the United Kingdom, was needed for a number of reasons. First, immunisation had become one of the largest public health programs – this required additional resources in research and evaluation to underpin it, including behavioural and social research. The need for behavioural and social research was underscored by concerns around the safety of the whole cell pertussis vaccine and publication of a paper in the prestigious journal the Lancet in 1997 claiming there was a link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Second, the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR), established in 1996, required epidemiological expertise and analysis capacity independent from the Health Insurance Commission (now Medicare Australia) which housed it. Third, the need for detailed work to support policy development for new vaccines, which had started with the first new vaccine for 15 years - Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine in 1993 - was likely to increase. Finally, it was recognised that avenues for postgraduate training to build capacity in epidemiology, vaccinology and social science were required to meet the needs for research, surveillance and evaluation in vaccines and immunisation programs.

1997