Summary

This report provides an assessment of state and territory performance against the performance benchmarks outlined in the National Partnership on Essential Vaccines (NPEV), for the second year of the agreement, covering the assessment period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

The NPEV is an agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the states and territories, which aims "to protect the Australian public from the spread of vaccine preventable diseases through the cost-effective and efficient delivery of immunisation programs under the National Immunisation Program".

The performance benchmarks assessed in this report are:

  1. an increase in vaccination coverage rates for 60–<63 month olds relative to the baseline
  2. an increase in the vaccination coverage rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in at least two of the following three age cohorts: 12–<15 months; 24–<27 months; and 60–<63 months, relative to the baseline
  3. an increase in the vaccination coverage rate for both adolescent boys and adolescent girls for HPV, relative to the baseline
  4. an annual decrease in the wastage and leakage rate for agreed vaccines, relative to the baseline.

Performance Benchmark 4 (an increase in vaccination coverage rates for 60–<63 month olds in four of the ten lowest vaccination coverage SA3 geographical areas in each jurisdiction, relative to the baseline) is not assessed in this report. In August 2018, SA3 coverage reports were provided to jurisdictions by the Commonwealth that were later identified to contain geocoding errors. This may have led to states and territories having incorrect information in relation to selection of areas of low coverage for assessment. Subsequent delays in the provision of updated coverage reports may have also prevented jurisdictions from undertaking follow up prior to the end of the 2018–19 reference period. For these reasons, the Department of Health delegate agreed that all states be assessed as meeting Performance Benchmark 4 in full.

A performance milestone of "provision of annual schools HPV immunisation data for the previous school year by 30 April each year" is also specified in the Agreement. For the second year of the Agreement, all states and territories achieved this milestone.

In relation to the 5 benchmarks assessed for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019:

  • New South Wales met 4 benchmarks, with benchmark 5 not being met
  • Victoria met all 5 benchmarks
  • Queensland met all 5 benchmarks
  • Western Australia met all 5 benchmarks
  • South Australia met 4 benchmarks, with benchmark 5 not being met
  • Tasmania met 4 benchmarks, with benchmark 5 not being met
  • The Northern Territory met 4 benchmarks, with benchmark 5 not being met
  • The Australian Capital Territory met 4 benchmarks, with benchmark 5 not being met.