School Vaccination Program

From 2023, parents can provide consent for their child's school vaccinations online.

The South Eastern Sydney Public Health Unit works in partnership with high schools within the District to offer free vaccines recommended for adolescents by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

For students to be vaccinated, consent for each vaccine must be provided by the parent/guardian. Consent can be completed:

• online on a secure NSW Health portal. Parents/guardians will need (1) a ServiceNSW account to log in to the NSW Health portal and (2) the Medicare numbers for both themself and the student. Parents/guardians can create an account with ServiceNSW if they don't already have one.
• using a paper consent form - available on request from the school

Detailed guidance on how to provide online consent is available here. This is also available in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Arabic, Korean and Vietnamese.

Where it is not appropriate for a student to receive vaccinations at school, if they are in distance education, or home schooled, they are eligible for free vaccinations with their local general practitioner or pharmacy until they turn 20 years of age. Refugees and humanitarian entrants aged 20 years and over are also eligible for a number of free catch-up vaccinations.  

2023 School Program Schedule

Secondary schools 

Students in secondary schools in 2023 are being offered the following vaccines: 

Students who miss vaccine doses due to absence on the day of the nurses' visit will be offered catch-up vaccination at subsequent school clinics. Where this is not possible, parents will be advised that free catch-up vaccine is available at their local GP or pharmacy. 

Parents who choose to wait for their child to be older before consenting to vaccination will be required to arrange for vaccination at their GP or pharmacy and may have to pay a consultation fee. More information is available about catch-up vaccination. 

Parents can withdraw consent before vaccination takes place. 

• where consent has been given online, please log-in to the secure NSW Health portal and follow the prompts to withdraw consent. If you wish to withdraw consent within 24 hours of a scheduled clinic you will need to call the school.
• where consent has been given on the paper consent form, please write or call the school to advise the student's name, school grade and those vaccines the withdrawn consent applies to.

Coverage rates for all vaccines offered to students in secondary schools are available. 

Information about the vaccinations is also available in 26 community languages. 

A video (Whatchya Gunna DO?) has been produced to raise awareness about the importance of immunisation for Aboriginal adolescents and their parents. 

Intensive English Centre (IECs) 

Newly arrived migrants (including refugees) attending Intensive English Centres (IECs) will be offered the following vaccines based on student age: 

All ages

12 year olds only

Less than 14 years of age

15-19 year olds only

Distance education/home-schooled students 

Students who are enrolled in distance education or who are home-schooled are advised to attend their GP or pharmacy for free age-appropriate vaccinations. 

National Immunisation Program vaccines available in Pharmacies

National Immunisation Program vaccines can also be supplied and administered at pharmacies with trained immunisers, to adolescents who would be routinely offered vaccination in the NSW School Vaccination Program. 

National Immunisation Program vaccines in Pharmacies 

Immunisation Resources

• Additional Commonwealth and NSW-funded free vaccines
• Australian Immunisation Handbook
• NSW Immunisation Schedule
• NSW School Vaccination Program 2023
• The HPV Vaccine in Schools - Cancer Council Australia