The four main approaches to immunisation against hepatitis B are: vaccination of high risk babies; universal adolescent immunisation; universal infant immunisation; and vaccination of everybody. Universal antenatal screening would permit identification of carrier mothers and immunisation oftheir babies. Vaccination of adolescents would provide protection close to the time when risk of exposure ...

The Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) commenced operation in January 1996 and provides a comprehensive database of children's immunisations in Australia. The ACIR enables implementation of an immunisation recall and reminder system and improved surveillance and reporting of immunisation coverage. Before the introduction of the ACIR, the methods used in assessing coverage varied ...

As the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases has declined, and more new vaccines are marketed, adverse events following immunisation have attracted greater attention from the public and from health care providers. At a population level, post-licensure monitoring of vaccine safety in many countries relies on notifications to passive surveillance systems, such as the Australian Adverse Drug R...

Over 16 months 148 children were referred by health visitors and general practitioners to a specially trained nurse for failing to complete courses of immunisation. A further 91 children of travellers' families were identified as needing immunisation. The nurse carried out 810 immunisations on 237 of these children in their homes without a doctor being present. There were only two refusals, and...

This is a report of an innovative influenza immunisation program in three tertiary paediatric hospitals in NSW. A targeted once-off program of influenza immunisation funded by NSW Health was offered during 2010 at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney Children's Hospital and the John Hunter Children's Hospital. Authorised immunisers offered influenza immunisation to paediatric patients, o...

The objective was to develop microspherebased delivery systems (MDS) for controlled and pulsed-release delivery of recombinant anthrax vaccine via intranasal immunisation. Microsphere-based recombinant protective antigen (RPA) delivery systems for intranasal immunisation were successfully developed, wherein the MDS formulations produced extremely high antibody titres (over 150,000) in mice afte...

Results Immunisations were delivered by 95% of practice nurses. Factors associated with higher practice immunisation coverage and less delay were a lower ratio of nurses to children ‐ in the practice (1:1 to 1:74 (85)1:75 to 1:1290 (30) coverage P=0.04, timeliness P=0.03), nurse comfort with their own immunisation knowledge (Yes (105), No (4) coverage P<0.001, timeliness P=0.01) and their perce...

BACKGROUND In 2002, the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children adopted a goal to reduce deaths owing to measles by half by the end of 2005, compared with 1999 estimates. We describe efforts and progress made towards this goal. METHODS We assessed trends in immunisation against measles on the basis of national implementation of the WHO/UNICEF comprehensive strategy for measles mortali...