Vaccination coverage in adolescents

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination

84.2% of girls and 81.8% of boys who turned 15 in 2023 – and 80.9% and 75.0% of Indigenous girls and boys, respectively – had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine by their fifteenth birthday.

These figures were 1.1–3.1 percentage points lower than for 2022 but compare well with coverage in 2023 in similar high-income countries, using the same World Health Organization-recommended assessment methodology.

These decreases likely reflect COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts, given the vaccinations were predominantly due in 2020 and 2021, when school-based vaccination programs were disrupted due to school closures.

See Table 2 in the full Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2023 (p. 32) for more detail.

See Table 3 in the full Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2023 (p. 33) for more detail.

In girls living in the most socioeconomically advantaged areas, coverage of at least one dose of HPV vaccine by the fifteenth birthday in 2023 was 5.3 percentage points higher overall (and 12.1 percentage points higher in Indigenous girls) than in those living in the least advantaged areas. This pattern was similar for boys.

Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) vaccination

In adolescents turning 15 years of age in 2023, coverage of an adolescent dose of dTpa vaccine by the end of 2023 was 5.1 percentage points lower for Indigenous adolescents than for adolescents overall.

See Figure 14 in the full Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2023 (p. 38) for more detail.

Meningococcal ACWY vaccination

Coverage (%) of meningococcal ACWY vaccine in adolescents turning 17 years of age was lower in 2023 than 2022, both overall and for Indigenous adolescents.

In adolescents turning 17 years of age in 2023, coverage of an adolescent dose of meningococcal ACWY vaccine was 10.5 percentage points lower for Indigenous adolescents than for adolescents overall.

See Figure 15 in the full Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2023 (p. 39) for more detail.