Vaccine safety in Australia AusVaxSafety summary report now available

The Vaccine safety in Australia AusVaxSafety summary report 2022 is now available on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.

The report shows how people receiving vaccines, or their parents and carers, responded to an SMS or email giving them the opportunity to report:

• any side effects they may have experienced in the days after vaccination
• whether they had to seek medical attention as a result.

Participation in AusVaxSafety surveillance remained high in 2022, with more than 1.6 million safety surveys being completed and then analysed by AusVaxSafety epidemiologists.

The report shows the majority of adverse events after vaccination in 2022 were mild – including local injection site reactions and some systemic symptoms such as fatigue – and go away within a few days.

The results confirm that the short-term safety of National Immunisation Program (NIP) funded, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines used in Australia is consistent with results from clinical trials as well as with similar global active safety surveillance systems, like the V-safe system used in the US.

No safety issues have been detected for any vaccines monitored under AusVaxSafety.

The report features vaccine safety data infographics for NIP-funded vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines used in Australia that include information such as:

• the percentage of participants who reported a side effect following vaccination 
• the percentage who visited a doctor or emergency department in the days after vaccination
• the most commonly reported adverse events after vaccination 
• the percentage of participants who reported missing work, study or routine duties after vaccination
• respondent demographics.

These infographics are an excellent resource for healthcare providers to use when counselling patients on the short-term safety of vaccines at each schedule point on the NIP and COVID-19 vaccines, and can also help individuals when planning for vaccination.

Access the summary report