NZ Shared Digital Health Record API - Local Development build (v1.1.3) built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) Build Tools. See the Directory of published versions
Immunisations
Overview
This domain contains immunisation records sourced from the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR).
FHIR artifacts
FHIR artifacts
Clinical description
Immunisation records document vaccines administered to a person and form part of their longitudinal immunisation history.
Immunisation information supports understanding of vaccination status, previous vaccine administration, and related clinical decision-making across primary, community, hospital, outreach, telehealth, and after-hours care settings.
Intended use
This domain supports visibility of a person's immunisation history and immunisation status.
Immunisation information may support:
- vaccination planning and administration;
- avoidance of unnecessary duplicate vaccination;
- identification of missed or overdue immunisations;
- assessment of protection against vaccine-preventable diseases;
- continuity of care across care settings; and
- clinical decision-making in high-risk, urgent, or transient care situations.
Immunisation information from SDHR should be treated as shared clinical context and does not replace clinical assessment, local documentation, or review of source records where these are required.
- Immunisation information is sourced from AIR, which holds national immunisation information.
- AIR remains the source system for creation and maintenance of immunisation records.
- SDHR does not clinically reconcile, amend, or reinterpret immunisation records.
- Accessing systems should use coded FHIR content where available and present vaccine details, administration dates, status, source information, and provenance alongside immunisation records.
Privacy and confidentiality considerations
- Immunisation information is subject to SDHR privacy, security, access, audit, and purpose-of-use controls.
- Immunisation records may reveal sensitive information about a person's health status, risk factors, eligibility, participation in specific immunisation programmes, or aspects of their clinical history.
- Patients may have applied privacy choices or restrictions through AIR (by choosing 'restricted access') or SDHR participation controls.
- Accessing systems should distinguish between records that are unavailable because access has been restricted and records that are genuinely absent.
Clinical safety considerations
- Immunisation records should be interpreted in conjunction with vaccine details, administration dates, status, source information, and clinical context.
- Accessing systems should clearly present administered immunisations and any available status or provenance information.
- Absence of an immunisation record does not establish that a vaccine has not been administered.
- Vaccination decisions should consider the full clinical context, including patient history, applicable immunisation guidance, and information available from the source system.
- SDHR information does not replace clinical judgement or review of source records where these are required.
Known limitations
- Implementation guidance for this domain is still under development.
- Source coverage, historical depth, update behaviour, and operational processes may evolve as implementation progresses.
- Immunisation records should not be assumed to represent a complete history.
- Availability of specific data elements, status information, and provenance may vary depending on the source system and implementation approach.
- Access restrictions, privacy settings, or participation choices may affect the information available through SDHR.
