Immunisation Weekly Update:

1. Updated NSW Immunisation Schedule
2. Updated pneumococcal resources
3. Measles alert for Sydney
4. Mpox clinician alert
5. Minor facelift for Handbook Catch-up Calculator 
6. Education

Updated NSW Immunisation Schedule

The NSW Immunisation Schedule has been updated, with the following key changes that reflect updates to the childhood schedule and aim to improve readability for clinicians:

• Inclusion of Prevenar 20 to replace Prevenar 13 and Pneumovax 23 on the childhood schedule under the National Immunisation Program (NIP)
• Change of the layout to be arranged by age cohort and medically at-risk groups
• Emphasis on NIP-funded influenza vaccine for children aged 6 months to <5 years
  

A new NSW Childhood Immunisation Schedule has also been released, which outlines all NIP-funded childhood vaccinations offered for free in NSW.

All updated schedules can be accessed on the NSW Health website. If you need a printed copy, CESPHN can provide this for you. Please email us including the number of copies you need. Please be advised these are A3 in size.

Updated pneumococcal resources

A range of resources have been updated to align with the recent changes to the NIP childhood and adolescent pneumococcal vaccine schedules, which came into effect from Monday 1 September.  

The NIP change sees the 20vPCV vaccine Prevenar 20 become the new standard pneumococcal vaccine for children and adolescents across all Australian states and territories.

Updated resources are available to access below:

• Australian Immunisation Handbook pneumococcal chapter
• Handbook catch-up vaccination chapter
• NCIRS pneumococcal vaccines FAQs resource
• NIP childhood schedule fridge magnet card
• Childhood vaccinations consumer brochure
• Following vaccination – what to expect and what to do

Measles alert for Sydney

NSW Health is advising people to be alert for signs and symptoms of measles after being notified of a confirmed case who was infectious while visiting several locations in Sydney.

The case recently returned from South-East Asia, where there are ongoing outbreaks of measles in several countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. 

People who attended these locations should watch for the development of symptoms. These locations do not pose an ongoing risk.

Read the full list of exposure sites and media release here.

Mpox clinician alert

NSW Health has released an Mpox Clinician Alert following a rise in case numbers in NSW, including in heterosexual people. There have been 10 notifications of Mpox in NSW from 1 to 27 August 2025 after no notifications in recent months.

Key messages are as follows:

• Mpox symptoms can mimic other conditions (e.g. herpes, tonsilitis, haemorrhoids)
• Test all sexually active people with symptoms consistent with mpox, regardless of vaccination status, sexual orientation or travel history
• Check that at-risk people have had two doses of vaccine and encourage JYNNEOS vaccination
  

Read the full alert here.

Minor facelift for Handbook Catch-up Calculator 

Following feedback from immunisation providers, several functionality and content updates have been applied to the Australian Immunisation Handbook Catch-up Calculator.

• Calculator now allows Apple Safari browser users to generate, print or save immunisation catch-up schedules
• Maximum age condition for rotavirus has been corrected to 32 weeks
• Error resolved where the second dose of varicella vaccine was incorrectly marked as NIP-funded  
  

The Catch-up Calculator is a useful tool for immunisation providers designed to help determine appropriate vaccination schedules for individuals who are behind on their recommended vaccinations

Source: NCIRS Weekly Jab newsletter 29 August 2025. Subscribe here: ncirs.org.au/user/register

Education