Registration and qualifications

Registration for service providers

Queensland Health works with registered vaccine service providers to protect the community against vaccine preventable infectious diseases. Service providers facilitate the administration of vaccines by qualified immunisation professionals in a range of settings, including community health clinics, child health centres, selected local councils, schools and aged care facilities.

If you are a suitably qualified service and would like to discuss registering as a service provider to access vaccines as part of the National Immunisation Program, please contact the Queensland Health Immunisation Program.

Professional Qualifications

To administer vaccines in Queensland you must be a qualified health professional, such as a medical practitioner, pharmacist, midwife, or nurse with the appropriate qualifications.

Registered Nurses

All registered nurses may administer a vaccination to a person on the prescription of an authorised prescriber, providing the nurse is practicing within their established scope of practice.

Authorisation to initiate the administration of a vaccine

Under the provisions of the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021, only appropriately authorised registered nurses are able to administer and give a treatment dose of scheduled medicines as listed in the Extended Practice Authority ‘Registered Nurses' (PDF 245 kB) (EPA-RN).

Part B (rural and isolated practice areas), Part C (sexual and reproductive health services) and Part D (immunisation program services) of the EPA-RN authorise certain registered nurses to initiate the administration of a vaccine, as listed in the EPA-RN, without a prescription.

All registered nurses who are authorised under the EPA-RN must ensure they have access to their current Health Management Protocol in addition to the Australian Immunisation Handbook and guidelines established by their employer, as well as the Immunisation Schedule Queensland and the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’.

EPA-RN Part D immunisation program services requirements

The EPA-RN, Part D requires a registered nurse to have successfully completed an immunisation course (approved course) as detailed below, prior to administering vaccines (listed in Appendix 4) for an immunisation program service (refer to EPA-RN, Part D, section 5.2).

Approved courses for registered nurses (Immunisation program nurses) working in immunisation program services include:

Prior to the introduction of the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 and the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021, a registered nurse working in an immunisation program service was required to complete any of the following:

  • an approved program of study for endorsement as an Immunisation Program Nurse with the former Queensland Nursing Council; or
  • a qualification in immunisation previously approved by the chief executive under the (repealed) Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996. These courses comprised:
  • Australian College of Nursing - Immunisation for Health Practitioners Course Code 306 ONLY (undertaken between 29 June 2018 and 31 October 2020)
    • Australian Catholic University - The Program for Nurse Immunisers
    • Cunningham Centre - Immunisation Program - Registered Nurse Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 course
    • University of Southern Queensland
    • Benchmarque Group

Immunisation program service

Prior to administering vaccines, registered nurses must ensure the immunisation program service is recognised under the EPA-RN (refer to Part D, section 5.2). Immunisation services that do not meet the EPA-RN, Part D requirements, must obtain a substance authority (general approval - immunisation program) under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019.

Further information on the substance authority (general approval) requirements under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 for an immunisation program service is detailed Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 Factsheet: Immunisation programs – registered nurses (PDF 219 kB)

Enrolled nurses

Enrolled nurses can administer vaccinations on the prescription of an authorised prescriber and under supervision of a registered nurse, midwife or doctor. Those enrolled nurses who did not complete medication studies as part of their curriculum cannot administer any medications, including vaccinations and have a notation on their registration which is published on the register of practitioners. The notation states: ‘Does not hold Board-approved qualification in administration of medicines’.

More information on medicine administration by enrolled nurses is available through the Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer

Midwives

All midwives may administer a vaccination to a person on the prescription of an authorised prescriber, including endorsed midwives, medical practitioners, and nurse practitioners, providing the midwife is working within their established scope of practice.

The Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021, Extended Practice Authority 'Midwives' (PDF 245 kB) (EPA-Midwives) provides the authority for midwives to initiate and administer specific vaccines without a prescription, subject to certain limitations. Only midwives who have completed an appropriately authorised immunisation program course are able to administer specified scheduled medicines as identified in the EPA-Midwives.

All midwives must ensure they have access to the Immunisation Schedule Queensland , The Australian Immunisation Handbook and the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’ to meet the requirements for the EPA-Midwives.

Pharmacists

Beginning in 2023, Queensland community pharmacies will have access to National Immunisation Program (NIP) funded influenza vaccines. This is in addition to the current vaccination services offered by Queensland community pharmacies such as COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines available on the private market.

The Queensland Extended Practice Authority  for Pharmacists (PDF, 159KB), under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019, outlines the scope and conditions of vaccination activities for pharmacists.

COVID-19 vaccinations

The COVID-19 Vaccine Training Program (CVTP) was decommissioned on the 30 September 2023. It is no longer a mandatory requirement for participating in the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program.

Ongoing requirements for COVID-19 immunisers

All COVID-19 vaccination providers must have authority to vaccinate in their state or territory. As a provider, you must have completed the required immunisation training for your profession. If you previously completed the CVTP, this does not qualify you as an authorised immunisation provider.

All primary care providers participating in the COVID-19 Vaccine Program must continue to either:

  • hold a valid accreditation (or be undergoing accreditation) through the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme
  • administer vaccines as part of the National Immunisation Program (NIP)
  • be approved to dispense pharmaceutical benefits as part of the PBS defined in Section 90 of the National Health Act 1953 (Cwlth) (Section 90 Pharmacy)
  • hold a valid accreditation with Quality Care Pharmacy Program (QCPP) (Community Pharmacies only).

Please contact Qld Health on 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for more information.

Resources

Tuberculosis Control Units

Prior to performing a Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) or administering a bacillin Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination for Tuberculosis (TB), registered nurses must demonstrate that they have completed the specified training. Contact Tuberculosis (TB) Control Units for more information.

Yellow Fever information

Applications to become an approved Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre in Queensland require submission of two completed forms:

  1. Application for a medical practice to become an approved yellow fever vaccination centre (PDF 300 kB) and
  2. Conditions Applying to an Approved Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre.

Both completed forms must be sent to the Public Health Unit (PHU) for assessment. Applications to become a Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre can only be considered if one or more medical practitioner or nurse practitioner (whose scope of practice includes immunisation) has successfully completed the mandatory training requirements. The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care provides information about the mandatory training requirements for yellow fever vaccination practitioners on their website.

Following successful application, the practice name, address and telephone number will be published on the Queensland Health Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres webpage.  Note that changes to contact details for practices and/or practitioners must be updated using the Change of details form , submitted to the PHU.

For more information about the procedures and requirements to become an approved yellow fever vaccination centre and/or practitioner, please read the National Guidelines for Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres and Providers.

Last updated: 12 September 2024