Adding medical contraindications to the AIR

You can add permanent or temporary medical contraindications for a patient to indicate that a patient should not be given a particular antigen.

Tip:
To update information to the AIR, you must belong to a user group with the AIR Patient Integration Update system right.

If an individual has a medical contraindication recorded, they are not required to be vaccinated with that vaccine, or equivalents, during the recorded contraindication period, and the Department of Health may consider the individual up to date for certain purposes, such as childcare enrolments or family assistance payments.

Contraindications are considered valid by the AIR in specific scenarios. For example:
Table 1. Valid contraindication reasons and types
Reason for contraindication Type
Previous anaphylaxis (to vaccine/vaccine component) Permanent
Significant immunocompromise (relevant to live attenuated vaccines only) Permanent
Acute major medical illness Temporary
Significant immunocompromise of short duration (relevant to live attenuated vaccines only) Temporary
Individual is pregnant (relevant to live attenuated vaccines only) Temporary
Note:
The medical basis for vaccine exemption is explained in the The Australian Immunisation Handbook.
To add a medical contraindication:
  1. In the Australian Immunisation Register portal window, on the Medical Contraindications tab, click Add iconAdd medical contraindication.

    Example Add medical contraindication window
  2. In the Add medical contraindication window, from the Vaccine/Brand name list, select the vaccine for which you want to add a medical contraindication.
  3. From the Type list, select the type of contraindication, either Temporary or Permanent.
  4. For temporary contraindications, in the End date field enter an end date for the contraindication period.
  5. From the Reason list, select why this medical contraindication applies to this patient.
  6. If the contraindication is required because of previous anaphylaxis, in the Anaphylaxis date field, enter the date of occurrence.
  7. Click Save.
The medical contraindication is added to the list on the Medical contraindication tab and uploaded to the AIR. The individual is not required to be vaccinated with the vaccine, or equivalents, during the recorded contraindication period.