Please thoroughly review the NSW pharmacist vaccination Standards (the Standards) and NSW Pharmacist Vaccine Authority (the Authority) to ensure all the requirements, including the training and premises (vaccination areas) requirements, as well as patients’ eligibility for each vaccine, are met before the vaccines listed on the Standards are administered/supplied to eligible patients.
Please refer to Section C: Competency, Training and Scope of Practice of the Standards.
Before administering National Immunisation Program (NIP), state-funded, or privately purchased vaccines, the principal pharmacist immunisers at the pharmacy must apply to register as a vaccination provider with the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) and obtain their AIR provider number.
For information on how to apply, please refer to Registration with the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).
NSW pharmacist immunisers intending to administer NIP and state-funded vaccines to eligible patients should apply for a Vaccine Account Number (VAN) with the State Vaccine Centre (SVC) after having received their AIR provider number. Please see How to order, store, transport and dispose of vaccine on how to open a VAN on SVC.
Once you have completed Steps 3 and 4, you can order NIP and state-funded vaccines from the SVC.
Please see How to order, store, transport and dispose of vaccine for detailed information.
Please note that if you only administer privately purchased vaccines, you still must meet all the requirements outlined in the Standards and have an AIR provider number before administering vaccines.
Appropriate storage and transport of vaccines (including NIP, state-funded and privately purchased vaccines) is a mandatory requirement as per the Standards.
All vaccines including NIP, state-funded and privately purchased vaccines, must be stored and transported within the recommended temperature range of +2°C to +8°C and protected from light at all times. Maintaining the cold chain is important to ensure that effective and potent vaccines are administered to patients. Please see How to order, store, transport and dispose of vaccine for further information.
The Safe Vaccine Storage Checklist can be used to help with the safe storage of vaccines.
The local public health unit must be contacted on 1300 066 055 when an NIP or state-funded vaccine is exposed to light or a cold chain breach occurs. Please refer to Vaccine storage and cold chain management for further information on how to report light exposure and cold chain breaches. Expired NIP and state-funded vaccines must be recorded in the NSW Vaccine Centre Online Ordering System and disposed of appropriately.
All immunisation encounters (including but not limited to post-vaccination care) must be done in accordance with the Standards.
All immunisation encounters, unless otherwise permitted on the Standards, must be recorded on the AIR preferably within 24 hours of administration and at the latest within 10 business days. Pregnancy status at the time of vaccination must be reported on the AIR as appropriate.
Adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) must be managed as per the Standards and reported to the local public health unit by telephone on 1300 066 055 immediately after the response to an AEFI and at the latest within the next business day. This includes AEFIs following NIP, state-funded and privately purchased vaccines.
Vaccine administration errors include but are not limited to the inadvertent administration of a wrong or unintended vaccine and/or the inadvertent administration of a vaccine that is incorrectly stored, prepared or given outside the Australian Immunisation Handbook’s advice.
Some examples include the supply and administration of:
Vaccine administration errors, including those related to NIP, state-funded and privately purchased vaccines, must be disclosed to the patient, recorded onto the AIR and reported to the local public health unit by telephone on 1300 066 055.