Children aged <5 years born to parents from countries with high tuberculosis incidence are not recommended to receive BCG vaccine, with rare exceptions
Children aged <5 years born to parents from countries with high tuberculosis incidence who are now living in Australia are not recommended to receive BCG vaccine, because of the low incidence of tuberculosis in Australia and the uncertainty of the benefit of vaccination compared with the risk of vaccine adverse events.
Tuberculosis is uncommon in children born in Australia. However, children born in Australia to parents from countries with a high tuberculosis incidence (>40 cases per 100,000 population per year) may have a higher risk of tuberculosis exposure from parents and travelling family, in their early life.4 BCG vaccination may be recommended in some cases, based on an individual risk assessment.
Children born outside of Australia may also be at high risk of disease, but have often previously received a BCG vaccine shortly after birth in their country of birth. See Epidemiology.
