2023 NSW Pharmacist Vaccination - Travel Vaccine Update

From 14 November 2022 the NSW Pharmacy Vaccination Standard was expanded to include a range of travel vaccinations. This means pharmacists are authorised to vaccinate a wider range of vaccines without the need for a prescription.

Learning Resources

There are several Guild Ed modules available to support pharmacists in meeting their learning needs.

Training modules cover:

  • Clinical features, epidemiology, complications, and transmission of different diseases
  • Patient eligibility for the vaccine
  • Requirements for the immunisation
  • Precautions and contraindications for vaccination

Pharmacists should also be prepared to provide advice to patients on the prevention and management of a range of specific illnesses while travelling. Information relating to this advice can be found here.

Identifying Patients

NSW Health have developed print and digital resources to alert patients to the expanded selection of vaccines now available for injection by pharmacists.

Eligible patients can also be identified through:

  • Health services (Medscheck, BP and BGL checks)
  • Patient request for Reg 24 to travel overseas
  • Personal knowledge

Patients may also require vaccination to prevent disease resulting from environmental hazards, e.g. floods.

Pharmacists are encouraged to consider:

  1. Vaccines that are required
  2. Vaccines that are routine
    • The person is up to date with childhood vaccines, e.g. measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, varicella, polio, COVID
    • See the Australian Immunisation Handbook
  3. Vaccines that are recommended

Preventing Vaccine Incident or Error

Risk assessment should be conducted before providing any additional services in the pharmacy. Consideration should be given to common vaccination errors including:

  • Administration of the wrong vaccine
  • Administration of a vaccine unsuitable for the age of the patient
  • Administration of expired vaccine

Vaccination procedures should be robust, systematic and include reference to:

  • Obtaining informed consent- see Prioritising Informed Consent
  • Confirming the expected vaccine using open-ended questions
  • Confirming the vaccine is suitable for the patient’s age.
  • Consideration of precautions and contraindications
  • Checking the expiry date
  • Reporting any errors or incidents to your professional indemnity insurer

Patient Referral

NSW Health has a Referral Checklist for pharmacists, and travellers that meet any of the criteria on the checklist MUST be referred to a GP or travel medicine practitioner.

In addition to the Consumer Vaccination Pre-screening Form, pharmacists will need to incorporate the checklist into their workflow to ensure appropriate referral. The checklist should be printed and posted in the vaccination area.

Referral Checklist 1

Does the itinerary contain any of the following elements?

  • Travel to altitude >2500m above sea level
  • Exposure to heat illness (e.g. Kokoda Track or similar, ice activities)
  • Risk of malaria
  • Medical Tourism
  • Visiting friends and relatives in a developing country
  • Volunteer, missionary, or aid work including disaster relief
  • Adventure travel including diving, caving, extreme sports, climbing, rafting
  • Risk of yellow fever, Japanese Encephalitis or tickborne encephalitis
  • Risk of exposure to Zika virus
  • Increased risk of animal bite, or poor or delayed access to post-exposure rabies prophylaxis

Referral Checklist 2

Do any of the following apply to the traveller?

  • Pregnancy
  • Breastfeeding
  • Disability
  • Immunocompromise or immunosuppression (including splenectomy)
  • Traveller is aged 65 years or more
  • Traveller is an infant or young child
  • Surgery or hospitalisation within last 3 months
  • Underlying chronic health conditions e.g., mental health, cardiac, epilepsy, respiratory, diabetes
  • Past history of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism
  • Prescription medication may be needed for the trip (prevention or emergency treatment of malaria, altitude sickness medication, seasickness medication, medications for jet lag, antibiotics etc)

Reporting and Notification

All vaccinations administered must be reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)

  • All uncommon, serious, or unexpected Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) are reported to the local public health unit.
    • The supporting documents are available here

Additional resources

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Page last updated on: 06 March 2023