- Each person has unique immunisation needs.
- What vaccinations you need is determined by your health, age, lifestyle and occupation.
- Talk to your doctor about your immunisation needs.
COVID-19 vaccines: For information about COVID-19 vaccines please go to the Victorian Government's coronavirus (COVID-19) website .
Immunisation for life
To be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, you need immunisations throughout your life, not just in childhood.
Everyone’s HALO is different
Your immunisation needs are influenced by your:
- Health – health issues such as premature birth, asthma, diabetes, heart, lung, spleen or kidney conditions will mean you can benefit from immunisation.
- Age – at different ages you need protection from different diseases.
- Lifestyle – lifestyle choices like travelling overseas, playing contact sport, sexual activity or smoking, will mean you can benefit from immunisation.
- Occupation – some jobs expose you to a greater risk of contact with diseases, for example, working in a hospital or day care centre. This means you can benefit from immunisation.
The Immunisation for Life infographic can help you determine which immunisations you may need.
Remember this tool can be used to start a conversation with your doctor. It is not a diagnosis. Discuss your HALO with your doctor or immunisation provider.
It is important to be immunised
Immunisation is a proven and safe way to be protected against diseases that cause serious illness and sometimes death. Every day, immunisation saves lives and makes it possible for Victorians to live free from the illness and the disability caused by many vaccine-preventable diseases.
By reducing the spread of disease, immunisation not only protects those people who have been immunised, but it also protects those in the community who may be unable to receive vaccines themselves.
Vaccine costs
Many of the vaccines listed on the Immunisation for Life infographic are provided free by the Australian Government to Medicare card holders and non-Medicare card holders . You may still have to pay your doctor or immunisation provider to give you the vaccine. Some vaccines need to be purchased on prescription. Vaccines may be covered by your private health fund. Check with your fund.
Common side effects may occur soon after immunisation and last one to 2 days. Generally, no treatment is required. If you have a fever, drink more water and do not overdress. Paracetamol can be taken for pain or fever (follow the label for correct use).
Severe side effects, such as an allergic reaction, are very rare and usually happen soon after immunisation. To be safe, your doctor or immunisation provider will ask you to stay nearby for 15 minutes after you are immunised.
Find an immunisation service
Immunisations in Victoria are provided by local councils, some GPs and specially qualified nurses in medical clinics and community health services, some maternal and child health nurses, travel clinics and some pharmacists and hospitals.
Where to get help
Content on this website is provided for information purposes only. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional. The information and materials contained on this website are not intended to constitute a comprehensive guide concerning all aspects of the therapy, product or treatment described on the website. All users are urged to always seek advice from a registered health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions and to ascertain whether the particular therapy, service, product or treatment described on the website is suitable in their circumstances. The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website.
Recently added This page was added on 11 June 2018.
More than 200 years ago, Edward Jenner first showed that vaccination protected against smallpox. Since then, vaccines have reduced the burden of many infectious diseases.
Vaccination is one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions. Worldwide, immunisation programs prevent around 2.5 million deaths each year.1 Model examples of disease control through immunisation include the:
- global eradication of smallpox in 1979
- near elimination of poliomyelitis
- global reduction in other vaccine-preventable diseases
Vaccination can protect both the people vaccinated and others in the community who are not immune. It does this by increasing the level of immunity in the population. Known as ‘herd immunity’ or ‘community immunity’, this minimises the spread of infection. Healthcare professionals must take every opportunity to vaccinate children and adults.
Australia has one of the most comprehensive publicly funded immunisation programs in the world. As a result of successful vaccination programs, many diseases have either been eradicated or are extremely rare in Australia, such as:
- tetanus
- diphtheria
- Haemophilus influenzae type b
- poliomyelitis2
The Australian Immunisation Handbook provides clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals and others about the safest and most effective use of vaccines in their practice. The guidance is based on the best scientific evidence available, from published and unpublished literature. Details about the Handbook revision procedures are in Development of the Handbook.
The Handbook contains information for all vaccines that are available in Australia at or near the time of publication. The National Immunisation Program funds many of the vaccines. People may receive, or be recommended to receive, vaccines described in this Handbook that are not part of the routine immunisation schedule — for example, people:
- who are travelling overseas
- with a medical condition that puts them at increased risk of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease
- at occupational risk of disease
The Australian Immunisation Handbook references both the National Immunisation Program, which aims to increase national immunisation coverage to reduce the number of cases of diseases that are preventable by vaccination in Australia and the National Immunisation Program Schedule which outlines the recommended schedule points from birth through to adulthood.
The preferred citation provided is: Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Australian Immunisation Handbook, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 2022, immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au.
The guideline recommendations were approved by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 9 July 2018. Subsequent amendments since 9 July 2018 were approved under section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992. In approving the guideline recommendations, NHMRC is satisfied that the guideline recommendations are systematically derived, based on the identification and synthesis of the best available scientific evidence, and developed for health professionals practising in an Australian health care setting.
- World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, World Bank. State of the world's vaccines and immunization. 3rd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2009 (accessed June 2012).
- Chiu C, Dey A, Wang H, et al. Vaccine preventable diseases in Australia, 2005 to 2007. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 2010;34 Suppl:ix-S167.
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