Add Medical Exemption Details #

Immunisation medical exemptions for an individual can be recorded on the AIR using this API. This is relevant for those receiving family assistance payments. Effectively an exemption means the individual is considered to have an up-to-date immunisation status for the purposes of family assistance payments for the duration of the exemption period. You can use the API to record an immunisation medical exemption on an individual’s immunisation history.

There are 2 types of immunisation medical exemption

• medical contraindications - which are recorded for vaccines and their components.
• natural immunity - natural immunity to a disease based on a laboratory test or physician’s clinical diagnosis

Eligible vaccination providers Under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015, the following medical practitioners can record a medical contraindication and natural immunity on the AIR:

• General practitioners - defined by the Health Insurance Act 1973 as Fellows of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Fellows of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, or on Medicare’s Vocational Register of General Practitioners
• General practice registrars on an approved 3GA training placement
• Paediatricians
• Public health physicians
• Infectious diseases physicians
• Clinical immunologists

POST - Record a Medical Contraindication #

Medical contraindication is a type of immunisation medical exemption on the AIR, recorded for vaccines and their components.

The medical basis for vaccine exemption is to be based on guidance in The Australian Immunisation Handbook which is available on the Immunise Australia website. Medical contraindications include:

• anaphylaxis following a previous dose of the relevant vaccine
• anaphylaxis following any component of the relevant vaccine
• significant immunocompromise (for live attenuated vaccines only). For further details, including what is considered significant immunocompromise, see The Australian Immunisation Handbook. For example, HIV-infected persons in whom immunocompromise is mild can be given MMR and varicella vaccines.

Medical contraindications recorded on the AIR for a vaccine can have a typeCode of :

• ‘P’ = permanent – there is no end date
• ‘T’ = temporary – the end date is in the future

This means that the individual is not required to be vaccinated with that vaccine, or equivalents, during the recorded contraindication period. Where a contraindication is recorded, the Department of Health may consider individuals to be up to date with immunisations for the purposes of:

• child care enrolments
• overdue reminder letters
• overdue reporting for providers, and
• meeting requirements for family assistance payments

Valid values forreason for a permanent immunisation medical exemption (typeCode = ‘P’) on the AIR due to a medical contraindication are:

• ‘A’ = previous anaphylaxis (to vaccine/vaccine component)
• ‘I’ = significant immunocompromise (for live attenuated vaccines only)

Valid values for reason for a temporary immunisation medical exemption (typeCode = ‘T’) on the AIR due to a medical contraindication are:

• ‘M’ = acute major medical illness
• ‘S’ = significant immunocompromise of short duration (live attenuated vaccines only)
• ‘P’ = the individual is pregnant (live attenuated vaccines only)

and endDate must be set

The data for this request go into the recordAdditionalData.contraindication element of an air/individual call

• vaccineCode is the vaccine/brand in which the individual needs medical contraindication recorded. Only a valid vaccine code can be recorded.
• typeCode is the type of medical contraindication. ‘P’ = permanent’ or ‘T’ = temporary’
• reason is the single character reason for the medical contraindication ‘A’ or ‘I’ for permanent contraindications, ‘M’, ‘S’ OR ‘P’ for temporary contraindications.
• endDate is the date when the temporary medical contraindication period ends. Not set for permanent medical contraindications.

The AIR Individual Medical Contraindication Record request will process in real-time and send a synchronous response message.

Following the positive identification of an individual and using their individual identifier, this request will:

• Record a vaccine exemption due to medical contraindication, and
• Add the vaccine exemption to their medical contraindication history with the start date as the date recorded on the AIR

{{base_url}}/{{version}}/air/individual?location={{location_id}}

Headers

Params

Body

{
    "_TestCase": "Record a Medical Contraindication",
    "patient": {
        "dateOfBirth": "2012-04-17",
        "name": {
            "family": "Edwards"
        },
        "medicare": {
            "number": "2953701051",
            "ref": 2
        }
    },
    "provider": {
        "information": "2433411Y"
    },
    "recordAdditionalData": {
        "contraindication": {
            "vaccineCode": "BOOST",
            "typeCode": "P",
            "reason": "I"
        }
    }
}

Example Request:

curl --location 'https://sandbox.claiming.com.au/v2/air/individual?location=25' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer ' \
--data '{
    "_TestCase": "Record a Medical Contraindication",
    "patient": {
        "dateOfBirth": "2012-04-17",
        "name": {
            "family": "Edwards"
        },
        "medicare": {
            "number": "2953701051",
            "ref": 2
        }
    },
    "provider": {
        "information": "2433411Y"
    },
    "recordAdditionalData": {
        "contraindication": {
            "vaccineCode": "BOOST",
            "typeCode": "P",
            "reason": "I"
        }
    }
}'

POST - Record a Natural Immunity Exemption #

Natural Immunity is a type of immunisation medical exemption on the AIR, either by a laboratory test or a physician’s clinical diagnosis confirming natural immunity to a disease.

A natural immunity has no end date and can only be recorded on the AIR for hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella and varicella. The relevant disease codes are:

• HEP = Hepatitis B
• MEA = Measles
• MUM = Mumps
• RUB = Rubella
• VAR = Varicella

Recording a natural immunity to a disease means that the individual is not required to receive that disease component of a vaccine in order to be considered up to date with immunisations for the purposes of:

• child care enrolments
• overdue reminder letters
• overdue reporting for providers, and
• meeting requirements for family assistance payments

However, the Department of Health considers the individual is still due/overdue for any remaining elements in the vaccine. For example, if an individual has a recorded natural immunity to mumps, they are still due/overdue for measles and rubella. This shows in their immunisation status on the AIR.

The data goes into the recordAdditionalData.immunity in an air/individual call.

• disease is the antigen code of the disease for which the individual needs natural immunity recorded. Only a valid natural immunity antigen code can be recorded.
• Either labTestDate or diagnosisDate is required in the request.
• labTestDate is the date when the test for natural immunity occurred
• diagnosisDate is the date the individual was diagnosed with a natural immunity.

The AIR Individual Natural Immunity Record request will process in real-time and send a synchronous response message. Following the positive identification of an individual and using their individual identifier, this function will:

• Record a vaccine exemption due to natural immunity, and
• Add the vaccine exemption to their natural immunity history with the notification date as the date recorded on the AIR

{{base_url}}/{{version}}/air/individual?location={{location_id}}

Headers

Params

Body

{
    "_TestCase": "Record a Natural Immunity Exemption",
    "patient": {
        "dateOfBirth": "1992-08-12",
        "name": {
            "family": "Hayes"
        },
        "medicare": {
            "number": "3951149821",
            "ref": 1
        }
    },
    "provider": {
        "information": "2433421X"
    },
    "recordAdditionalData": {
        "immunity": {
            "disease": "MEA",
            "labTestDate": "{{today-1}}",
            "diagnosisDate": "{{today-1}}"
        }
    }
}

Example Request:

curl --location -g 'https://sandbox.claiming.com.au/v2/air/individual?auth_group={{auth_group}}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer ' \
--data '{
    "_TestCase": "Record a Natural Immunity Exemption",
    "patient": {
        "dateOfBirth": "1992-08-12",
        "name": {
            "family": "Hayes"
        },
        "medicare": {
            "number": "3951149821",
            "ref": 1
        }
    },
    "provider": {
        "information": "2433421X"
    },
    "recordAdditionalData": {
        "immunity": {
            "disease": "MEA",
            "labTestDate": "{{today-1}}",
            "diagnosisDate": "{{today-1}}"
        }
    }
}'

Example Response:

Body:

{
  "status": "INVALID",
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": "AIR-E-1005",
      "message": "The request contains validation errors."
    },
    {
      "code": "AIR-E-1049",
      "message": "A natural immunity for this disease has been previously recorded."
    }
  ]
}

Headers: