Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) site functions 011-18052200

The AIR is a national register that records vaccinations given to individuals of all ages in Australia. It includes National Immunisation Program (NIP) schedule vaccines, COVID-19, influenza (flu), and travel vaccines. The AIR is administered under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 (AIR Act) and AIR data is protected under the Privacy Act 1988.

Mandatory reporting

Amendments to the AIR Act and AIR Rules require mandatory reporting of the following to the AIR from:

• 20 February 2021 COVID-19 vaccines
• 1 March 2021 influenza vaccines
• 1 July 2021 all NIP vaccines
• 21 December 2022 Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccines
• 1 March 2024:
• route of administration for JEV vaccines
• vaccine batch numbers where the vaccination provider is both the immunisation provider and the information provider
• vaccine type categories: NIP/Commonwealth and Other
• 1 March 2025:
• Antenatal Indicator for females aged 10-65 (inclusive) where the vaccine is mandatory to report

Note: it is still mandatory to record a batch number in the Vaccine Batch Number field for all COVID-19 vaccinations. Vaccination providers or their staff with delegated access can view, submit, or request vaccination data from the AIR through the online AIR site.

The AIR site allows users to record:

• vaccination information
• medical contraindications and natural immunities (eligible medical practitioners only)
• planned catch ups for overdue vaccines
• returned mail
• indigenous status
• an additional vaccine required indicator

AIR site users can also:

• update or correct some data already sent to the AIR
• request payment statements
• request reports to help identify individuals due or overdue for vaccination
• print immunisation history statements

The Resources page has links to Health professional education resources which contains Health professional eLearning modules.

The HI Service is a national system for uniquely identifying eligible healthcare providers.

• Healthcare Provider Identifier - Individual (HPI-I) numbers are for individual healthcare providers. This includes general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals and dentists who provide patient care
• Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O) numbers are for organisations that deliver health care, such as medical practices or hospitals

Vaccination providers can notify the AIR of their HPI-I or HPI-O number when logging into the AIR site. They can also choose to skip this (not a mandatory field) and proceed to record vaccination information.

Eligible medical practitioners can record an immunisation medical exemption for an individual on the AIR site.

For information about immunisation medical exemptions and eligible medical practitioners, see Immunisation medical exemptions in Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

Vaccination providers can also record vaccination catch up schedules on the AIR. The Process page contains information on how providers record an immunisation medical exemption or catch-up on the AIR site.

Vaccination providers can flag that an individual may require additional vaccines if they are considered medically at risk or part of a special risk group. Vaccination providers can do this on the AIR site by selecting the 'Additional Vaccines Required (AVR)' indicator.

When an individual has an AVR indicator recorded on:

• the AIR site:
• the AVR tick box displays as selected
• a 'Special risk group' alert box displays under the individual's details
• Mainframe:
• the AVR indicator displays a 'Y' value if selected and 'N' if not selected

Vaccination providers must have patient consent before adding or removing the AVR indicator. The AVR indicator does not identify the reason for the flag.

Any vaccination provider can apply or remove an AVR indicator. To remove an indicator, it does not have to be the same vaccination provider who applied it.

AIR site reports allow vaccination providers to select report output options to identify individuals with an AVR indicator. When generating reports, vaccination providers should tick the:

• Select all checkbox under the Include Individuals who have
• Additional Vaccine Required checkbox under the Details to include

Services Australia cannot provide clinical advice about when an AVR indicator is to be used and should encourage vaccination providers to self-service online such as through Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) or their web services enabled Practice Management Software.

If vaccination providers are unable to use self-service options, Service Officers can escalate to their team leader or AIR Local Peer Support (LPS) for help. For more information about the AVR indicator, team leaders and AIR LPS can contact the AIR helpdesk, see Resources page for a link.

Vaccination providers can consult the Australian Immunisation Handbook for advice and recommendations when vaccinating special risk groups.

Note: the AVR indicator does not:

• automatically populate if an individual is identified as Indigenous on the AIR
• affect Family Tax Benefit or Child Care Subsidy payments

See Resources page for:

• links to the AIR helpdesk contact details
• screen shots of the AIR site and mainframe, and
• links to the Department of Health and Aged Care's website for the Australian Immunisation Handbook

The AIR produces statistical and identified reports for vaccination providers which can be accessed from the AIR site. The Resources page contains a link to the Services Australia website for a list of reports available.

The reports a vaccination provider can access is based on their 'provider type'. The provider type is set when the provider registers with Medicare or the AIR.

Vaccination providers generate reports to identify individuals who are or will be classified as due/overdue for immunisation. AIR reports can be customised to suit the provider's requirements. The contents of the final report will depend on the options selected when requesting the report from the AIR site.

AIR Reports can be set up to produce automatically on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. A weekly cycle is recommended to ensure access to the most current information on the AIR. Providers should only work with the latest report, and disregard old versions.

Reports are in Comma Separated Value (CSV) Excel format. The report information can be filtered using Excel tools to identify:

• vaccine
• dose
• service date
• disease antigen etc.

AIR site users can choose to view reports 2 ways:

• CSV single file - where all data is presented across one spreadsheet
• CSV multiple file - where data is presented in a series of files. Each file contains one component of individuals' immunisation profile:
• personal details
• vaccination history
• due/overdue details
• provider details and exemptions. This format is suitable for mail merges

The option to view reports in 'single file' format is only available for:

• AIR010A - Due/Overdue Report - by Immunisation Practice
• AIR011A - Due/Overdue Report - by Locality
• AIR011B - Due/Overdue Report - by Vaccination Provider
• AIR021A - Due/Overdue Report - by Medicare GP
• AIR042A - COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Report
• AIR043A - Vaccination Report - by Vaccination Provider

The Resources page has links to Health professional education resources which contains eLearning modules and simulations on using AIR reports.

Providers can review vaccination information they have reported to the AIR by:

• checking their software for transmission details
• reviewing their Immunisation Payment Statements via the Payment Statements menu on the AIR website
• downloading the AIR043A - Vaccine Details Report

HPOS messages can be used to contact the AIR to request a correction to vaccination details. For example:

• a request to amend the date of service or vaccine brand name for historical data, or
• where the vaccination provider is unable to amend details because a payment has been received

HPOS messages is available to vaccination providers who access the AIR site through HPOS log on using Provider Digital Access (PRODA).

Note: authentication files were switched off by provider type between April to September 2021. From October 2021, vaccination providers can only access the AIR site by logging on using PRODA. See Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) site access in HPOS.

Vaccination providers should be encouraged to edit vaccination details using the 'Update Encounter' function on the AIR site. This function is available if the vaccination provider submitted the encounter and they have not yet received an information or catch-up payment (where payable). The Process page contains the process providers follow to access AIR secure email and HPOS messages from the AIR site.

HPOS messages must not be used to submit vaccination data. New vaccination details should be reported using Practice Management Software:

• through the Record Encounter function in the AIR site, or
• by submitting an IM018 - AIR immunisation encounter form

See the Record, edit or delete an encounter table on the Process page.

The AIR site features audit logs for web services transactions. These logs are searchable and viewable by provider number.

Only operators with 'Web Admin' access in the AIR site will have access to the audit logs. For more information, contact the AIR helpdesk.