Immunisation

At Victoria Street Medical Group, we vaccinate children from birth to 5 years according to the Victorian Immunisation Schedule – February 2023. All childhood vaccinations are bulk-billed for Australian medicare card holders, click to check eligibility. It is advised that you bring your child’s vaccination book with you- the doctor/nurse will record vaccinations given on the day . This is important to maintain up to date and accurate documentation. After the Immunisation shots have been given, it is recommended that you and your baby remain in the surgery for a further 15min to allow observation.

Free routine and catch-up vaccines are available for the following people where clinically indicated. This includes non-Medicare card holders

• All people under 20 years of age. The catch-up schedule needs to commence on or before the child’s 20th birthday and may be completed after this date.
• All refugees and humanitarian entrants including asylum seekers.
• People at risk of hepatitis B infection.
• Vulnerable citizens- A person who has experienced socio-economic disadvantage that compromised their equitable access to the vaccine during their period of eligibility.

MSM

Are eligible for free vaccines as follows:

• Hepatitis A and B vaccines
• Meningococcal ACWY for meningitis
• HPV – Gardisal 9

Immunisations is provided at Victoria Street Medical Group free of charge (eligible medicare card holders)

• Pregnant women from 28 weeks gestation during every pregnancy
• Partners of women who are at least 28 weeks pregnant if the partner has not received a pertussis booster in the last ten years
• Parents/guardians of babies born on or after the 1st June 2015, if their baby is under 6 months of age and they have not received a pertussis booster in the last ten years

• 50 to 59 years of age (inclusive) a single booster dose

•  Women planning pregnancy and post partum with low or negative rubella antibody

• Children aged 6 months to 5 years
• For 65 years onwards annually
• People with asthma, smoking related lung disease and other medical conditions where indicated.

• Single dose for  years +

• Single dose for 70 years +

MENINGOCOCCAL ACWY (for prevention of meningitis)

• The vaccine is free to all GBM and MSM who live in Victoria between 11 December 2017 until 30 June 2018.

Immunisation is one of the best ways you can protect yourself, your children and future generations from infectious diseases. In other words, if you vaccinate, you help wipe out disease that could spread now and into the future.

By making sure you and your family are fully vaccinated, you are not only looking after your own family but also protecting vulnerable people in your community.

And you are also helping to wipe out these infectious diseases altogether. That is, the more people who vaccinate, and thus the fewer people who are infected, the less widely can a disease spread.

Immunisation saves lives. As recently as the 1950s, thousands of children died every year from diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough (pertussis). Luckily, it is rare for anyone in Australia to die from these infectious diseases now, thanks to the major vaccination programs introduced in the 1960s and 1970s, which continue today.

If you have any questions about immunisation, please ask your doctor while visiting Victoria Street Medical Group.