• COAG (Council of Australian Governments) Reform Council

Read the full text

22 August 2011This report assesses the performance of all States and Territories against four benchmarks based on maintaining, and, where posssible, improving immunisation coverage rates.

The objective of the National Partnership Agreement on Essential Vaccines (National Partnership on Essential Vaccines) is to improve the health and well-being of Australians through the cost-effective delivery of immunisation programs under the National Immunisation Program. The parties commit to maintaining and, where possible, improving immunisation coverage rates through immunisation initiatives to reduce the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases in Australia (COAG 2009, p. 4).

The COAG Reform Council has the role of assessing States and Territories and publicly reporting their achievement of performance benchmarks before payments are made by the Commonwealth to reward maintaining and, where possible, improving immunisation coverage rates. This is the council’s first report on the National Partnership on Essential Vaccines.

The National Partnership states that each State or Territory must meet at least two of the four agreed performance benchmarks to receive reward payments (Clause 38, COAG 2009). The four benchmarks are set out below:

• Maintaining or increasing vaccine coverage for Indigenous Australians 
• Maintaining or increasing coverage in agreed areas of low immunisation coverage
• Maintaining or decreasing wastage and leakage 
• Maintaining or increasing vaccination coverage for four year old