Disclosure of student and parent information

The Public Health Act 2005 requires a school principal to provide student and parent information to approved school immunisation providers for the purposes of following up with parents of students who have not returned a consent card.

The school immunisation provider can only request the following information under the Public Health Act 2005:

  • the name and date of birth of a student;
  • the name, telephone number, email address and postal address of a parent or guardian of a student;
  • any other information prescribed by the Public Health Regulation 2005 (Part 2D) about a student:
    • the sex of the student;
    • the school’s class or group to which the student belongs;
    • the language spoken at home by the student;
    • whether the student identifies as being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.

No other student or parent information can be requested from the school principal.

This direct follow-up ensures all parents are offered the opportunity for their child to participate in this important school health program. It may also assist parents in making decisions about their child’s immunisation needs

Parents who return a consent card indicating ‘No to Vaccination’ for all vaccines will not be contacted.

Informing parents

Queensland Health wants to give parents every opportunity for their child to participate in the School Immunisation Program and be protected against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Over recent years, a large number of immunisation consent cards were not being returned to school which meant parents may not have been receiving information about the program and been able to consent for their child to be immunised.

The Information for Schools (PDF, 567kB) booklet has information about the disclosure of information including sample text for schools to use and a Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 51kB) document for parents.

The School Immunisation Program consent pack provides information on the disclosure of information for parents.

Protecting privacy

All student and parent information provided is protected under the Queensland Information Privacy Act 2009.

The information will only be retained by the school immunisation provider for the school year that the child is eligible for vaccination.

No hard copy or electronic versions of the information will be kept.

More information:

Last updated: 27 November 2018