The Department of Health and Aged Care provides members with an update on enhancements to AIR.
Update to COVID-19 vaccine names
From 16 November 2024, COVID-19 vaccine names will no longer display the manufacturer name within the AIR. For example, the 'Pfizer Comirnaty XBB.1.5' vaccine will display as 'Comirnaty XBB.1.5'.
This simplifies the display of COVID-19 vaccines and aligns with how other vaccines are recorded in the AIR.
Vaccination providers may notice this change when they are viewing or recording immunisation encounters in their clinical software (integrated with the AIR) or through the AIR site.
The AIR vaccine codes for COVID-19 vaccines will remain the same. Further information about AIR vaccine codes and vaccine brand names is available on the Services Australia website .
Introduction of an antenatal indicator
From 8 December 2024, a new bespoke antenatal indictor will be added to the AIR. This will allow vaccination providers to report to the AIR if the person is pregnant at the time of vaccine administration.
In addition, improvements will be made to the 'vaccine type' field to simplify the reporting options available for vaccination providers. This includes removing the 'Private' and 'State funded' options and replacing with 'Other'.
Maternal immunisation is critical in protecting pregnant women and their babies from serious illness and severe complications from vaccine preventable diseases. The collection of antenatal data is important as it ensures that the AIR contains a complete and reliable dataset to enable the monitoring of:
- immunisation coverage and administration; and
- the effectiveness and safety of maternal vaccines and vaccination programs, such as the National Immunisation Program (NIP), influenza and other respiratory vaccines and programs.
These enhancements will be implemented in a phased approach, please see details below:
Implementation date |
Summary of changes |
8 December 2024 |
Software developers will have the ability to build the new antenatal indicator into their clinical software products. Vaccination providers using updated clinical software will have the ability to report the AIR the:
|
9 February 2025 |
Vaccination providers using the AIR site will have the ability to report to the AIR the:
|
Between December 2024 and October 2025 |
Vaccination providers using clinical software with older technology will have the ability to continue to report antenatal information using the 'vaccine type' field. This includes the following options:
|
Vaccination providers wanting to know when these changes will be available in their clinical software are encouraged to speak with their software provider.
