4813.0.55.001 - Occasional Paper: Vaccination Coverage in Australian Children - ABS Statistics and the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR), 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/06/2003   
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ABOUT THIS RELEASE

Immunisation coverage among Australian children is an important public health issue. If a sufficiently large proportion of children have been immunised against a particular infectious disease, then the potential for that disease to spread in the population is greatly reduced. Measuring general immunity, however, is complex, and what is generally measured instead is compliance with vaccination schedules. This type of data was collected by the ABS in 1989-90, 1995 and 2001 and has been collected by the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) since 1996. This paper provides an insight into ABS estimates of compliance to national vaccination schedules, dating back to 1989-90. Statistics from ABS surveys and the ACIR are compared and key differences in methods are made clear. There is also analysis of the trend over time for vaccination coverage of Australian children using ABS data from 1989-90, 1995 and 2001, including comparisons with ACIR estimates where relevant.