Catching up on missed immunisations in Australia

Behind is not the same as starting again

Australian catch-up vaccination is governed by the Australian Immunisation Handbook, and the logic is the same as elsewhere: doses already given still count, and what changes is the timing of the ones still owed. A provider works out how many doses your child should have received by their current age, subtracts what they have had, and schedules the rest at the minimum acceptable intervals.

This page is about missed and late doses, and about moving here from another country. The routine ages at which each vaccine is offered are a separate question.

The tools your provider will use

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing hosts an online catch-up calculator that produces catch-up recommendations for all infants, children and adolescents under 20 years of age, including those with one or more medical at-risk conditions. Providers are advised to cross-check its output against the current state or territory schedule and the current online edition of the Handbook.

For children under 10 there is also a catch-up worksheet for calculating and recording which vaccines are required, how many doses are outstanding and when they are due. The Handbook publishes the underlying tables: minimum acceptable age for the first dose of each scheduled vaccine, the number of doses a child should have received by their current age, and minimum acceptable intervals between doses.

One rule catches people out. Doses given earlier than the minimum acceptable interval are in most cases not valid and should be repeated. That is why a record from a country with a compressed schedule sometimes produces more doses rather than fewer.

If your child was vaccinated overseas

Take translated evidence of overseas vaccinations to an Australian vaccination provider, who will update the Australian Immunisation Register for you. Do not assume it happens automatically, and do not throw the original document away once it has been entered.

Interpreting an overseas record is genuinely technical. Vaccines given in other countries may carry different brand names, contain different antigens in combination, or be given on a different schedule. The Handbook directs providers to the World Health Organization's list of national immunisation schedules for exactly this purpose, and has separate guidance on vaccinating migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum.

What catch-up protects: your payments

This is the part that is specific to Australia. Your child must meet immunisation requirements for you to receive Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy, and the full rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A.

Crucially, being on an approved catch-up schedule counts as meeting the requirement. Services Australia accepts any of three things for anyone under 20: meeting the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's age-appropriate early childhood vaccination schedule; being on an approved catch-up schedule in line with the current Australian Immunisation Handbook; or having a medical contraindication or natural immunity recorded on the AIR.

The consequences of not meeting it are concrete. Services Australia may reduce Family Tax Benefit Part A by up to $36.54 per fortnight for each child that does not meet the requirements — a figure published by Services Australia on its immunisation requirements page, last updated 1 July 2026. For Child Care Subsidy, a claim can only be approved once the child's immunisation status is up to date in the AIR, and if a child already receiving CCS stops meeting the requirements you have 63 days to start meeting them again before the subsidy stops and you have to lodge a new claim.

So the practical message is not "get every dose today". It is "get an approved catch-up schedule started today", because starting is what restores your entitlement.

How the checking works

You do not need to tell Services Australia when your child gets a vaccination, is up to date, or starts a catch-up schedule. When you claim Family Tax Benefit or Child Care Subsidy they ask for the child's Medicare card number and their Individual Reference Number — the number next to their name on the card — and use those to check the AIR directly. Your vaccination provider updates the AIR.

If your child's vaccinations are not up to date, Services Australia sends a letter explaining what to do before your payment is affected, so the letter is a prompt rather than a penalty. FTB Part A is reconciled when payments are balanced at the end of the financial year, and for lump sum claims the immunisation check is done when the claim is processed and applies to the whole claim period.

Your child's immunisation history statement shows what is recorded on the AIR, and it is the document childcare centres ask for. Check it rather than relying on memory, because a dose given at a pharmacy or in another state occasionally fails to land.

Why children fall behind

It is usually logistics rather than objection: an illness that postponed an appointment nobody rebooked, an interstate move, a hospital admission during the window, or arrival from another country mid-schedule. A mild illness without fever is generally not a reason to defer vaccination, and where a dose is deferred the appointment should be rebooked immediately rather than left to drift.

Premature babies are vaccinated according to their chronological age from the date of birth rather than their corrected age, so a very preterm baby is due their first doses on the same calendar timetable as a term baby. That surprises many parents and is worth confirming with your provider if an appointment appears to have been pushed back.

Where to go

Talk to your usual vaccination provider — a general practice or a community health clinic. National Immunisation Program vaccines are free for eligible people, including catch-up doses, and several states run additional free catch-up programmes for older children and young adults. If a medical reason genuinely prevents vaccination, a medical contraindication or natural immunity can be recorded on the AIR by an eligible practitioner, and that also satisfies the payment requirements.