Australia’s active vaccine safety system

AusVaxSafety Consortium

Led by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, AusVaxSafety is a world-leading national vaccine safety system. AusVaxSafety is a collaboration between immunisation providers, private enterprise, research institutions, state and territory governments and the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. 

The following organisations form the AusVaxSafety consortium: 

AusVaxSafety Advisory Group

The AusVaxSafety Advisory Group provides independent and high-level oversight of AusVaxSafety program implementation, evaluation and strategic direction. Members provide expertise from a range of fields integral to the function of the AusVaxSafety program alongside representatives from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

  • Professor Helen Marshall (Chair)

    Affiliate Lecturer, Medical Director VIRTU and A-Prof Vaccinology, The University of Adelaide

    Professor Marshall is a medical researcher with specialist training in child health, public health and vaccinology, having completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Doctorate of Medicine, Master in Public Health and Diploma in Child Health at the University of Adelaide and completed the international Advanced Vaccinology Course at the Pasteur Merieux Institute, France. She holds the positions of Professor in Vaccinology in the Adelaide Medical School, and Deputy Director, Clinical and Translational Research for the Robinson Research Institute at The University of Adelaide. Prof Marshall also holds the position of Senior Medical Practitioner and Medical Director, Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit (VIRTU), in the Department of Paediatrics at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

  • Alison Marcus

    Consumer representative, Consumer Health Forum of Australia

  • Professor Christopher Blyth

    Co-Director, Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases
    Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist

    Professor Chris Blyth is a clinical academic and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow. He is Professor of Paediatrics, University of Western Australia and Co-director of Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute. He leads the Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Perth Children's Hospital. The majority of his research is in influenza, vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, pneumonia and vaccine safety. 

  • Dave McNally

    Stakeholder and Government Branch, Department of Health

  • Emily Phillips

    Director Communicable Diseases Policy and Programs at National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation

  • Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris

    Director, Vaccine Datalink and Research Group, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care

    Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris is a vaccinologist, associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, and the Director of the Vaccine Datalink and Research Group. She was previously the chair of the World Health Organization Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) and currently elected member of the International Brighton Collaboration Science Board. She is a member of the New Zealand COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group and co-leads the Global Vaccine Data Network, a multinational consortium dedicated to collaboration in vaccine safety studies.

  • Professor Katie Flanagan

    Head of Infectious Diseases, Launceston General Hospital
    Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI)

    Professor Katie Flanagan is a clinician scientist who has worked on global health issues for more than 25 years. She has led numerous vaccine immunology trials throughout the world. She has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) since 2019 and is currently co-lead of the ATAGI COVID-19 Working Group.

  • Madeline Hall

    University of Queensland, Australian College of Nursing

  • Professor Margie Danchin

    Group Leader, Vaccine Uptake, Infection and Immunity, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI)

    Professor Margie Danchin is a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital and Clinician Scientist, University of Melbourne, and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). As leader of the vaccine uptake group, MCRI, her research focuses on vaccine confidence and uptake, particularly among high-risk groups and in low- and middle-income countries, and on effective risk communication. In Australia, she is the chair of the Collaboration on Social Science in Immunisation (COSSI) Group, chair of the Social Science Advisory Board and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, NCIRS, and on the COVID-19 ATAGI working group. She is on the steering committee of the Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance (ARIA) and the Australian Expert Technical Assistance Program for Regional COVID-19 Vaccine Access: Policy, Planning and Implementation (AETAP-PPI) Advisory Board, and is committed to efforts to improve vaccine confidence and uptake in the Western Pacific Region and globally.

  • Professor Mike Gold

    Professor, Adelaide Medical School - Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide

    Professor Michael Gold is a Paediatric Allergist and Immunologist with conjoint positions in the Discipline of Paediatrics, University of Adelaide and is former Medical Unit Head, of the Department of Allergy and Immunology at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network.  He has a research and clinical interest in the prevention of food allergy and vaccine safety.  He was appointed to the World Health Organisation Global Advisory Committee for Vaccine Safety in 2010 and has been an advisor to the Therapeutic Goods Administration via his appointment to a number of expert advisory groups since 2006.  He has been awarded ARC and NHMRC grants as principle investigator for projects that have researched novel methods of safety surveillance including data linkage and m-Health. He has contributed to a number of key WHO guidelines which include a global Adverse Event Following Immunisation surveillance manual, the WHO guideline on causality assessment and has recently led a WHO workgroup to develop a guideline for programme managers on Immunisation stress related responses.

  • Professor Paul Effler

    Medical coordinator, Communicable Disease Control Directorate, WA Department of Health, Perth, Western Australia
    Adjunct professor, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.

  • Dr Peter Eizenberg

    General Practitioner
    Director, Doctors of Ivanhoe 

    Dr Peter Eizenberg has more than 30 years' experience working as a general practitioner and has a special interest in whole-of-life immunisations, travel vaccines and public health.

  • Scott Brown

    Queensland Health

  • Adj. Associate Professor Tony Korman

    Director, Monash Infectious Diseases

    Associate Professor Tony Korman is an Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist. He is Director, Monash Infectious Diseases, and Director, Microbiology at Monash Health, Victoria’s largest healthcare network and a member of the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University. He has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) since 2019 and is currently lead of ATAGI COVID-19 Safety Group.