Australian Immunisation Register portal

View a patient's immunisation information recorded in the AIR from Communicare.

Note: This information is available only after you switch to Web Services.

To view a patient's immunisation history recorded in the AIR, you must belong to a user group with the AIR Patient Integration system right.

If a patient has any immunisation history recorded in the AIR, you can view their records, even if they do not have a Medicare card, except in the offline client.

Note: Communicare displays but does not store information retrieved from the AIR.
To display a patient's immunisation history recorded in the AIR, in a patient's clinical record, select Go to iconGo To > Australian Immunisation Register portal.
Tip: If your Communicare instance does not have any other integrations, Australian Immunisation Register portalAustralian Immunisation Register portal is displayed in the main menu of a patient's clinical record.
In addition to personal details, Communicare displays the following information from the AIR in the Australian Immunisation Register portal window:
Tip: You may not be able to see all tabs and edit options. Services Australia determines the immunisation information available to you as an individual provider and whether you can add or update immunisation details.

Example Australian Immunisation Register portal window
  • Vaccines due - an individual’s vaccine Due Details as returned by AIR.
  • Vaccine history - an individual’s immunisation history as recorded on the AIR.
  • Medical contraindications - any medical contraindications that an individual has for particular vaccines and their components recorded on the AIR. The individual is not required to be vaccinated with the contraindicated vaccine, or equivalents, during the recorded contraindication period.
  • Natural immunities - any natural immunities that an individual has that are recorded on the AIR. A natural immunity may be recorded for a patient if they are … assessed by a general practitioner, a paediatrician, a public health physician, an infectious diseases physician or a clinical immunologist as not requiring a vaccination because the individual has contracted a disease or diseases, and as a result has developed a natural immunity (Services Australia - Web Services, Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), AIR Developers Guide, 25 August 2021).
  • Vaccine trials - any vaccine trial that the patient is participating in that has been approved by the Department of Health and is recorded on the AIR. The trial only appears on the patient's history for the duration of the trial period. The patient may have participated in historical vaccine trials that do not appear on the AIR.

A count of the number of vaccines recorded for each category is displayed in the tab heading. For example, Example count in tab heading.

If there are any medical contraindications, a count is displayed in red. For example, Example medical contraindication count.

Note: If the following error is displayed, Communicare cannot connect to the AIR and no information is displayed in the Australian Immunisation Register portal window. Try again later.
Error retrieving information from Services Australia

If the AIR indicates that an immunisation action is required for this patient, the Action Required banner is displayed. For example, Action required banner. For more information, see Updating vaccine history.

Indigenous status

The personal details for the patient recorded in the AIR are displayed in the Australian Immunisation Register portal window, including their Indigenous status.

Recording an Indigenous status on the AIR helps vaccination providers to identify and give the clinically correct vaccination schedule. If an individual's Indigenous status is incorrect, you can update it and upload the change to the AIR.

Note: The Indigenous status recorded in the AIR database is distinct from other Government databases, and can be updated independently of other organisations such as Medicare. In the AIR, an individual's Indigenous status is either Indigenous or Non-indigenous, there is no further specificity.
Tip: To update information to the AIR, you must belong to a user group with the AIR Patient Integration Update system right.
To update a patient's Indigenous status:
  1. In the Australian Immunisation Register portal window, in the Indigenous status click Edit iconEdit.
    Indigenous status in the Australian Immunisation Register portal window
  2. In the Change indigenous status window, click Change indigenous status.

The Indigenous status change is saved and uploaded to the AIR.

Special risk groups

You can flag patients at risk as belonging to a special risk group. For example, preterm babies, and those with a chronic health conditions. If a patient is a member of a special risk group, they may require additional vaccines and extra follow up.

Tip: The current special risk groups are identified in the Australian Immunisation Handbook.
Tip: To update information to the AIR, you must belong to a user group with the AIR Patient Integration Update system right.
To identify a patient as belonging to a special risk group:
  1. In the Australian Immunisation Register portal window, click Add iconAdd special risk group.
    Add special risk group in the Australian Immunisation Register portal window
  2. Read the disclaimer from the AIR and click Add special risk group to acknowledge it.
The patient is flagged with the Additional Vaccines Required Indicator in the AIR.

If a patient is no longer at risk, you can remove the special risk flag: click Remove special risk group.

Immunisation history statement

To download a PDF of all vaccines an individual has received that are recorded in the AIR:
  1. Click PDF file iconDownload Immunisation History Statement (PDF).
  2. In the Save File window, select where you'd like to save the PDF and specify a filename.
The Immunisation statement is downloaded to the location you selected. View it with a PDF reader.

Australian Immunisation Register portal logging

Updates made in the Australian Immunisation Register portal are not recorded in the clinical record in Communicare automatically. However, whenever a change is made, the operation and the user who made the change are logged for audit purposes. The following operations are logged:
  • Open Australian Immunisation Register portal
  • Add planned catchup
  • Add special risk group
  • Edit vaccine history
  • Add medical contraindication
  • Add natural immunity
  • Edit indigenous status
  • Download immunisation statement