Improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a national priority.
The National Immunisation Program (NIP) for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people provides additional vaccines to help improve the health of Indigenous people, and close the gap between Indigenous and non- Indigenous people in health and life expectancy. For more information, go to:
health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-immunisation-program-schedule-for-all-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people
To identify Indigenous people who may require additional vaccines, vaccination providers can record Indigenous status directly on the AIR and it will not be over-ridden by their status recorded by Medicare. AIR Indigenous status will not be recorded on any other government database and it does not need to be the same as Medicare.
Recording an Indigenous status on the AIR helps vaccination providers to identify and give the clinically correct vaccination schedule.
Vaccination providers should seek consent from the person at the time of a vaccination encounter before recording their Indigenous status on the AIR.
Up to date records help determine the impact of the National Immunisation Program (NIP) in preventing vaccine-preventable diseases. In turn, vaccination coverage figures and data available for research purposes become more comprehensive and reliable over time.
Following the positive identification of an individual and using their individual identifier, this service will:
Validate the individual’s eligibility for an update to their indigenous status, Record the indigenous status update, and Add the indigenous status indicator to their personal details as recorded on the AIR.
Patient profile in CloudPos stores indigenous status. If it is different from what recorded in AIR, the Indigenous Status panel will be shown in yellow background. You may choose to update patient profile with what in AIR, or update AIR with more in patient profile.