NSW annual immunisation coverage report, 2011.

Unlabelled: This annual report, the third in the series, documents trends in immunisation coverage in NSW for children, adolescents and the elderly, to the end of 2011.

Methods: Data from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register, the NSW School Immunisation Program and the NSW Population Health Survey were used to calculate various measures of population coverage.

Results: During 2011, greater than 90% coverage was maintained for children at 12 and 24 months of age. For children at 5 years of age the improvement seen in 2010 was sustained, with coverage at or near 90%. For adolescents, there was improved coverage for all doses of human papillomavirus vaccine, both doses of hepatitis B vaccine, varicella vaccine and the dose of diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis given to school attendees in Years 7 and 10. Pneumococcal vaccination coverage in the elderly has been steadily rising, although it has remained lower than the influenza coverage estimates.

Conclusion: This report provides trends in immunisation coverage in NSW across the age spectrum. The inclusion of coverage estimates for the pneumococcal conjugate, varicella and meningococcal C vaccines in the official coverage assessments for 'fully immunised' in 2013 is a welcome initiative.