Vaccines and immunisation
Practice questions with explanations

B. Annual influenza, pneumococcal according to the schedule, and COVID-19 boosters, since diabetes increases the risk of severe infection

Diabetes increases both susceptibility to and severity of several infections, and hyperglycaemia during illness compounds the problem. Identifying such patients opportunistically at the point of dispensing, and knowing which vaccines are funded for them, converts a routine transaction into preventive care.

B. The Australian Immunisation Handbook, with the National Immunisation Program listing funded vaccines

The Handbook gives clinical recommendations for every vaccine, age group and risk category, while the National Immunisation Program determines which of those are funded, and the two are not identical: a vaccine can be recommended but not funded for a given person. State and territory programmes add further funded vaccines, so checking both is part of the assessment.

D. Explore their specific concerns respectfully, provide clear evidence-based answers, and keep the conversation open rather than dismissing them

Hesitancy is usually specific — a worry about a particular ingredient, a story heard from a friend, an unresolved question about a previous reaction — and generic reassurance does not reach it. Listening, addressing the actual concern, using presumptive rather than confrontational language, and leaving the door open are what change outcomes; argument entrenches positions.