What is AusVaxSafety doing?

AusVaxSafety is conducting comprehensive active safety monitoring of all COVID-19 vaccines being used in Australia. This is to ensure that the vaccines are safe and provide clinician and consumer confidence in the vaccination program.

As part of the national COVID-19 Vaccine Pharmacovigilance Plan, AusVaxSafety is using its established active surveillance system to monitor adverse events following immunisation in people who receive a COVID-19 vaccine. This helps facilitate early detection of any potential vaccine safety issues through responses to a brief survey in the days following vaccination sent via an automated SMS or email. Surveys are sent by collaborating AusVaxSafety surveillance tools Smartvax and Vaxtracker, and in some cases will be sent directly from new patient management systems.

In partnership with the Australian state and territory health departments, all those receiving a vaccine at a state immunisation clinic (hub) have the opportunity to participate in active surveillance through AusVaxSafety tools, SmartVax, Vaxtracker or directly from the state or territory health department. Those receiving a vaccine at a GP or other participating active surveillance site will also be contributing to this surveillance. Find out here if your GP is already participating, or if you're an immunisation provider who would like to sign up.

These surveys give participants the opportunity to report any adverse events they have after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Depending on the survey responses, the state/territory health department or immunisation provider may call the participant to collect more details.

AusVaxSafety has in-built safety signal detection and daily monitoring by brand, time post-vaccination, dose and other key demographics that allow us to get a complete picture of how the vaccines perform in real-world conditions.

AusVaxSafety is working closely with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce of the Australian Government, and state and territory health departments to ensure that monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine safety is of the highest possible standard in Australia. Our active surveillance system complements other safety surveillance, including the passive surveillance system managed by the TGA.

AusVaxSafety is already used in over 350 clinic sites across Australia to monitor routine vaccination. It is currently expanding to include more sites that will deliver COVID-19 vaccinations.

Visit our Active COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance page to learn how the surveillance system will work.

See also:

How can GPs/immunisation providers get involved  

COVID-19 vaccine safety data