Peer-reviewed article
Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2017
Brynley Hull, Alexandra Hendry, Aditi Dey, Julia Brotherton, Kristine Macartney et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This is the eleventh national annual report on childhood and adolescent vaccination coverage in Australia for 2017. It uses data from the Australian Immunisation Register and the National HPV Vaccination Program Register. Coverage rose at 12 and 60 months of age and fell slightly at 24 months after a rule change that requires a fourth DTPa dose at 18 months. Indigenous children reached their highest recorded coverage at 12 and 60 months. For the first time, the report looks at HPV vaccine course completion among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents.
Key points
- 'Fully immunised' coverage reached 93.8% at 12 months and 94.5% at 60 months in December 2017.
- Coverage at 24 months fell slightly to 89.8% after the December 2016 change requiring a fourth DTPa dose at 18 months.
- Indigenous children reached record coverage of 93.2% at 12 months and 96.9% at 60 months.
- Catch-up for the second measles-mumps-rubella dose among those aged 10–19 years who had not had it was higher in Indigenous adolescents (20.3%) than in non-Indigenous adolescents (6.4%).
- Of 15-year-olds who received dose one of HPV vaccine, 79% of Indigenous girls and 77% of Indigenous boys completed three doses, compared with 91% and 90% of non-Indigenous girls and boys.
Limitations
The abstract describes register-based coverage figures and does not evaluate an intervention or explain the reasons for the trends. It does not say how complete the register data are, and a separate future report is planned to assess completeness of reporting.
Abstract
This eleventh national annual immunisation coverage report focuses on data for the calendar year 2017 derived from the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) and the National Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program Register. This is the first report to include data on HPV vaccine course completion in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) adolescents. ‘Fully immunised’ vaccination coverage in 2017 increased at the 12-month assessment age reaching 93.8% in December 2017, and at the 60-month assessment age reaching 94.5%. ‘Fully immunised’ coverage at the 24-month assessment age decreased slightly to 89.8% in December 2017, following amendment in December 2016 to require the fourth DTPa vaccine dose at 18 months. ‘Fully immunised’ coverage at 12 and 60 months of age in Indigenous children reached the highest ever recorded levels of 93.2% and 96.9% in December 2017. Catch-up vaccination activity for the second dose of measles-mumps-rubella-containing vaccine was considerably higher in 2017 for Indigenous compared to non-Indigenous adolescents aged 10–19 years (20.3% vs. 6.4%, respectively, of those who had not previously received that dose). In 2017, 80.2% of females and 75.9% of males aged 15 years had received a full course of three doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Of those who received dose one, 79% and 77% respectively of Indigenous girls and boys aged 15 years in 2017 completed three doses, compared to 91% and 90% of non-Indigenous girls and boys, respectively. A separate future report is planned to present adult AIR data and to assess completeness of reporting.