Change requests in the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) 011-10120000

Vaccination providers, individuals or their representatives may contact the AIR to request amendments to the information stored on the AIR. Requests may include:

• Missing vaccinations, including missing birth doses for children previously not enrolled in Medicare
• Dose sequence issues
• Pended status for encounters
• Vaccinations recorded against the incorrect individual

Only recognised vaccination providers can record or amend vaccination information on the AIR. They can record or amend through:

• their Practice Management Software (PMS)
• the AIR site
• the IM011 – Immunisation medical exemption
• the IM013 – Immunisation history, and
• the IM018 – Immunisation encounter forms

In limited cases, AIR Service Officers can accept verbal updates or amendments from vaccination providers.

For amendments to an individual’s registration, see Amend individual registration on the AIR.

It can take up to 10 days for new vaccinations to appear on a customer’s immunisation history. If an individual is enquiring about a missing vaccination where it has been less than 10 days since the encounter, refer the customer to their vaccination provider.

Non-Medicare customers may have vaccinations recorded against different identifiers if they have:

• a duplicate Supplementary Identification Number (SIN) record on the AIR
• a SIN record on the AIR and an unmerged Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) record, or
• a Medicare Personal Identification Number (PIN) and an unmerged SIN record

Note: some providers are not contactable by phone. If staff need to contact them because a vaccine was administered more than 10 days ago, staff must follow the Missing encounter table on the Process page.

Individuals or their representatives may contact the AIR:

• to amend information on the AIR in order to support eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS). An individual may be linked for either FTB or CCS, or both.
• if they have received a letter from Centrelink, which states that their child does not meet the immunisation requirements for FTB or CCS, and
• they have been placed in a grace period, or
• their payments have been reduced, cancelled or rejected
• if their child care provider advised they did not receive CCS for child care services, or
• for other advice from Centrelink

AIR Officers can confirm an individual’s vaccination status via the AIR Service Officer Portal Status Summary Tile. It will display:

• ‘Up to date’ – where the individual is linked and meets immunisation requirements for the relevant payment
• ‘Not up to date’ – where the individual is linked and does not meet immunisation requirements for the relevant payment
• ‘where the individual is not linked’ for the relevant payment

Note: An individual or their representative will need to contact the Centrelink Families line to check their family assistance status where their AIR record is amended. Changes made to the AIR system may not update the CCS status for the purposes of family payments.

For escalation information see: Liaison between AIR and Centrelink staff for Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

AIR staff may receive enquiries where encounters have been recorded incorrectly. For example:

• antigens or vaccine brands
• immunisation or information provider number
• dose or batch number
• date of vaccination

Staff should:

• encourage vaccination providers to update information they have recorded themselves through the AIR site, and
• advise individuals to contact their vaccination provider to update the AIR

Verbal updates for encounters can only be accepted where the vaccination provider is otherwise unable to amend or record them through appropriate self-service channels. See the Resources page for a list of urgent criteria where it is acceptable to amend encounters based on a verbal update from a vaccination provider.

Verbal updates cannot be accepted for medical contraindications, natural immunity or catch up schedules unless it is identified that Services Australia is responsible for a processing error. If a processing error is identified for these work types, contact an AIR PSO.

A cold chain breach is when vaccines are stored outside the recommended temperature range of 2°C to 8°C or exposed to light. This can affect the quality and effectiveness of the vaccines. If this occurs, vaccination providers must notify their state or territory's health department.

See the Cold chain breach table on the Process page if a vaccination provider advises a vaccine was given under cold chain breach conditions.