Occupational immunisations
Working in certain jobs increases your exposure to some vaccine-preventable diseases. If you are working with vulnerable people, such as in health care, you may be exposed to and infect others with disease.
The National Health and Medical Research Council recommend occupational vaccination for:
- healthcare workers
- people who work with children
- carers
- emergency and essential service workers
- laboratory staff
- people who work in specific remote areas
- people who work with animals
- people exposed to human tissue, blood, body fluids or sewage.
If you are unsure which vaccines are recommended for you or you have any questions, talk to your doctor or immunisation provider. You can also speak to your employer about their policies and practices to minimise the spread of infectious diseases at work.
| Occupation | Recommended vaccinations |
| Healthcare workers | |
All healthcare workers and students directly involved in patient care or the handling of human tissues Read about Queensland Health's mandatory vaccination requirements for specified vaccine preventable diseases applicable from 1 July 2016. | Hepatitis B Influenza Measles Mumps Rubella (German measles) Whooping cough (pertussis) Chickenpox (varicella) |
| Working in remote Indigenous communities or with Indigenous children | As above plus hepatitis A |
| At risk of exposure to drug-resistant cases of tuberculosis | As above plus consider need for tuberculosis (BCG) vaccination |
| People who work with children | |
All people working with children, including:
| Influenza Measles Mumps Rubella (German measles) Whooping cough (pertussis) Chickenpox (varicella) |
| Staff working in early childhood education and care | As above plus hepatitis A |
| Carers | |
| Carers of people with developmental disabilities | Hepatitis A Hepatitis B Influenza |
| Staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities for people of any age | Influenza Measles Mumps Rubella (German measles) Chickenpox (varicella) |
| Providers of home care to people at risk of high influenza morbidity | Influenza |
| Emergency and essential service workers | |
| Police and emergency workers | Hepatitis B Influenza Tetanus |
| Armed forces personnel | Hepatitis B |
|
Correctional facilities staff Detention and immigration centre staff | Hepatitis B Influenza Measles Mumps Rubella (German measles) Tetanus |
| Laboratory staff | |
| Laboratory staff handling veterinary specimens or working with Q fever organism (Coxiella burnetii) | Q fever |
| Laboratory staff handling either bat tissues or lyssaviruses (including rabies virus and Australian bat lyssavirus) | Rabies |
Laboratory staff routinely working with these organisms: | |
| Bacillus anthracis | Anthrax |
| Vaccinia poxviruses | Smallpox |
| Poliomyelitis virus | Polio |
| Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) | Typhoid |
| Yellow fever virus | Yellow fever |
| Neisseria meningitidis | Quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (4vMenCV) Meningococcal B (MenBV) |
| Corynebacterium diphtheria | Diphtheria (dT or dTpa) |
| Japanese encephalitis virus | Japanese encephalitis |
| People who work in specific remote communities | |
| Workers who live with, or make frequent visits to, remote Indigenous communities in NT, Qld, SA and WA | Hepatitis A |
| Workers assigned to the outer Torres Strait Islands for a total of 30 days or more during the wet season | Japanese encephalitis |
| People who work with animals | |
Veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary nurses (depending on type of animals in contact with) | Influenza Q fever Rabies |
Agricultural college staff and students (aged >15 years) exposed to high-risk animals | Q fever |
| Q fever |
| Wildlife and zoo workers who have contact with at-risk animals, including kangaroos and bandicoots | Q fever |
| People who come into regular contact with bats (both ‘flying foxes’ and microbats), bat handlers, bat scientists, wildlife officers, zoo curators | Rabies |
| Poultry workers and others handling poultry, including those who may be involved in culling during an outbreak of avian influenza, and swine industry workers | Influenza |
| Other people exposed to human tissue, blood, body fluids or sewage | |
| Embalmers | Hepatitis B |
| Workers who perform skin penetration procedures (e.g. tattooists, body-piercers) | Hepatitis B |
| Funeral workers and other workers who have regular contact with human tissue, blood or body fluids and/or used needles or syringes | Hepatitis B |
| Plumbers or other workers in regular contact with untreated sewage | Hepatitis A Tetanus |
Reference: The Australian Immunisation Handbook