A proposed register to track vaccines given to school children has been scrapped after advice to the federal health department suggested there wouldn't be much point.
The 2015/16 budget provided $26 million towards boosting immunisation, including a new Australian School Vaccination Register to allow recording of all adolescent vaccines given through school programs from 2017.
The new register would have expanded on the existing national HPV register, which records HPV vaccines given to 12 and 13 year olds through schools.
But the federal health department on Friday said it was discontinuing a tender for the creation of the new register, based on new advice suggesting there wasn't a need for it.
It notes the adolescent chickenpox vaccine school program is coming to an end and the independent body responsible for recommending new medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is seeking advice on the effectiveness of the whooping cough booster currently given in the first year of high school.
"Noting that the adolescent varicella school-based catch up program is coming to an end, if the adolescent pertussis booster is removed from the National Immunisation Program schedule it is possible the schools register will gather data on HPV vaccinations only, which is currently the case," the department said.
The department is working on alternatives to the scrapped register and working with the operators of the existing HPV register on continuing it in 2017.
The proposed register was the subject of controversy during the federal election campaign as Labor pointed to the tender to accuse the government of seeking to hand children's medical records to private companies.
Share
