Goal 5: Fully immunised – children aged 1

This indicator reports on the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1 who are fully immunised. The goal for this indicator is 88% by 2023.

Why is it important?

Immunisation is important in protecting children from harmful infectious diseases. The National Immunisation Program Schedule sets out which vaccines should be provided at which ages, including for children aged 1.

What data are available?

Data for this indicator were sourced from the Australian Immunisation Register. The reported data for this indicator are for children aged 12 to <15 months as at 30 September. December quarter data from 5 jurisdictions – New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory – were used to inform goal setting due to data availability when the goals were set. Annualised national data were available from 2003 and are also presented.

What do the data show?

Progress towards the goal is on track.

  • In the 5 jurisdictions, the proportion of Indigenous Australian children aged 1 who were fully immunised at 31 December 2020 was 94%, which was above the trajectory point of 87% to meet the goal.

In the combined 5 jurisdictions, as at 31 December in each year:

  • The proportion of Indigenous Australian children aged 1 who were fully immunised increased over time from 82% in 2001 to 94% in 2020.
  • The coverage rates in each of the 6 years from 2014 to 2020 were above the trajectory points required to meet the goal.
  • Furthermore, the rates from 2015 to 2020 (90%–94%) were above the goal for 2023 (88%). Thus, if this level of coverage is maintained, the goal will be met.

National data are available from 2003. Nationally, in 2020, based on annualised data (to match immunisation data published elsewhere):

  • 94% of Indigenous children aged 1 were fully immunised, compared with 95% of other Australian children.
  • Coverage rates for Indigenous children ranged from 90% in Western Australia to 97% in Tasmania.

Figure 5.1: Proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 1 who are fully immunised

This figure shows the baseline data, from 2001 to 2013, the trajectory towards the goal, from 2014 to 2023. New data from 2014 to 2020 for the proportion of Indigenous children aged 1 who were fully immunised, based on 5 jurisdictions. New data has consistently exceeded the trajectory to the goal. Most recent data from 2020 show that 94.3% of Indigenous children aged 1 were fully immunised, above the 2023 target of 88.0%.

Figure 5.2: Proportion of children aged 1 who are immunised, by state/territory, vaccine type and Indigenous status, 2020 (annualised)

This figure shows that across Australia, the proportion of children aged 1 who are immunised was similar across Indigenous and other children. Immunisation was highest for pneumococcal (97.2% of Indigenous children aged 1 and 96.6% of other children aged 1), and lowest for HIB (94.0% of Indigenous children aged 1 and 95.4% of other children aged 1).

Figure 5.3: Proportion of children aged 1 who are immunised, by vaccine type, state/territory and Indigenous status, 2020 (annualised)

This figure shows that across the jurisdictions of Australia, the proportion of children aged 1 who were fully immunised for Indigenous children was highest in Tasmania (97.4%) and in the Australian Capital Territory for other children (96.2%). The lowest was in Western Australia (89.8% of Indigenous children aged 1 and 94.8% of other children aged 1).