How to use the Handbook

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Navigating the digital Handbook

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Structure

The Handbook is divided into sections:

About the Handbook – includes background, how the Handbook is developed, how to use it, and what’s changed
Fundamentals of immunisation – how immunisation works, frequently used terms and concepts in vaccination, and information about passive immunisation using immunoglobulins
Vaccination procedures – what to do before and after vaccination, and how to administer vaccines
Catch-up vaccination – information and tools to help you assess whether a person is up to date with their recommended vaccinations, and how to calculate which vaccines they need and when
Vaccination for special risk groups – recommendations for groups with special vaccination requirements
Vaccine-preventable diseases – information about the 24 diseases that can be prevented with vaccines in Australia, and recommendations for vaccination

Navigation

The home page highlights what’s new and recent updates, and links to the main Handbook sections.

The Contents page links to the main Handbook sections.

The menu across the top of the page gives you quick access to frequently used sections:

Diseases links to a list of the 24 vaccine-preventable diseases covered in the Handbook.
Vaccines lists all the vaccines available in Australia and selected components – filter by disease, vaccine group, audience, administration route or sponsor, or use the search box
Recommendations lists all the recommendations in the Handbook for all diseases – filter by disease or audience, or use the search box
Resources lists all the Handbook tables and figures, and also includes downloadable information sheets on a range of topics

Every page has a ‘back to top’ arrow at the bottom right of the screen.

Scroll to the bottom of every page to find useful links to immunisation groups, glossary and abbreviations, more about immunisation, and copyright and disclaimer notices.

Searching

Use the search box at the top right to search the entire Handbook. Filter results by content type and audience.

Something wrong?

Use the 'is there anything wrong with this page' link found at the bottom of every page to tell us if something goes is not working or should change. This will help us improve the Handbook website.

Structure of the Handbook

About the Handbook

This section contains introductory information about immunisation and the Handbook.

Development of the Handbook

This section contains information on:

contributors to the Handbook
the cost-effectiveness of Handbook recommendations
the process of developing Handbook recommendations
literature search updates

What’s new / Updates

These sections outline the latest updates to Handbook chapters.

Fundamentals of immunisation

This section provides an overview of:

active immunisation
types of vaccines
vaccine components
dosage and administration
vaccine efficacy and vaccine effectiveness
vaccine failure
vaccine safety
adverse events following immunisation
vaccine contraindications and precautions
passive immunisation

Vaccination procedures

This section describes the processes and procedures involved in a vaccination encounter. It is divided into 3 parts:

preparing for vaccination
administration of vaccines
after vaccination

Catch-up vaccination

This section provides information on catch-up vaccination. It includes:

assessing the person’s immunisation status
principles of catch-up vaccination
catch-up resources
using the catch-up worksheet for children <10 years of age
catch-up guidelines for individual vaccines for children <10 years of age
catch-up schedules for people ≥10 years of age

Vaccination for special risk groups

This section provides information on vaccination for special risk groups:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
international travellers
migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia
people who are immunocompromised
women who are planning pregnancy, pregnant or breastfeeding
preterm infants
people who have had an adverse event following immunisation
people who have recently received normal human immunoglobulin or other blood products
people with bleeding disorders
people who need vaccination before or after anaesthesia or surgery
people at occupational risk
other groups

Vaccine-preventable diseases

This section contains 24 chapters. Each chapter deals with a specific disease for which a vaccine(s) is currently available in Australia. All disease chapters follow the same format. Each chapter comprises:

Summary
Recommendations
Vaccines, dosage and administration
Contraindications and precautions
Adverse events
Nature of the disease
Clinical features
Epidemiology
Vaccine information
Transporting, storing and handling vaccines
Public health management
Variations from product information

In some instances, the recommendations in the Handbook from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation () may differ from information provided by the manufacturer in the vaccine product information document; these differences may be recommendations that are in addition to, or instead of, those listed in the product information.

Where a variation exists, the recommendation should be considered best practice.

Page history

Last updated:

8 June 2018

Last reviewed: