The COVID-19 vaccine is voluntary and free and your information and privacy are strictly protected.
As safe and effective vaccines become available the Government will vaccinate as many people in Australian as possible for COVID-19. If you choose not to have a COVID-19 vaccine your eligibility for Government payments won't be affected.
We have taken steps to ensure the implementation of the COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Strategy is compliant with the Privacy Act 1988 and the secrecy provisions of the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015.
Register your interest – receiving SMS and emails
You may have registered your interest to be notified when you could make a booking.
When you registered your interest, you are providing provided your consent for the Australian Government to send you a notification when either eligibility or vaccine availability changed. You can read the Privacy Policy for Register Your Interest for more information.
We have sent notifications to people who have previously registered within the following priority groups:
- Residential aged care workers
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 to 49 years of age or
- People aged 40 to 49 years of age and;
- People aged 18 to 39 years of age
The notification you received contained a link to an Australian Government website, either health.gov.au, or australia.gov.au, to confirm your eligibility details and locate a vaccination clinic, where you could make a booking.
In general, there can be risks when you click links in text messages or emails. We have taken extra steps to help you be confident that the notifications we send you are safe.
To be sure you are looking at a message from the Australian Government's Register your interest platform, in our notifications:
- links end in 'gov.au'. For example, www.australia.gov.au or www.health.gov.au
- we will never redirect you to a third party site
- links will never send you directly to sites that ask you to install software on your device, or ask for sensitive personal information (note that you may need to create an account when you are at the point of booking an appointment, depending on the platform the clinic is using)
- we never include files or documents as attachments
- when receiving an email, the sender address is always register.your.interest@health.gov.au
If you have concerns about the messages you have received please contact the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.
Privacy Impact Assessments
We commissioned the following Privacy Impact Assessments to ensure that any privacy risks were considered and addressed.
- The Phase 1a of COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy - Summary Document: Privacy Impact Assessment Report contains the Privacy Impact Assessment(s) and Australian Government Department of Health response.
- The Phase 1b of COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy: Privacy Impact Assessment Update Report and Agency Response contains the Privacy Impact Assessment and Australian Government Department of Health response. This is an update to the Phase 1a Privacy Impact Assessment.
- We commissioned a Privacy Impact Assessment of the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) Amendment (Reporting) Act 2021 to ensure we have addressed privacy risks. This is an update to the Privacy Impact Assessment of the Australian Immunisation Register commissioned in 2015. You can also read the response to the update report.
Privacy notices for individuals
The following Privacy Notices outline how we manage your personal information as part of the COVID-19 vaccines rollout.
- the Privacy Notice for Consumers using the Commonwealth-procured Booking Platform explains how we and HealthEngine will collect, use and handle your personal information.
- the COVID-19 vaccine privacy notice explains how we collect, use and handle your personal information safely and securely for the vaccine rollout.
- the Privacy Policy for the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) outlines how we will handle, use and store the information collected for the AIR.
- the Privacy Notice for the Register Your Interest platform explains how we collect, use and handle your personal information when you register to receive a notification from us about getting a vaccine.
- the collection notice for the Clinician Vaccine Integrated Platform (CVIP) explains how we collect, use and handle your personal information when you are using this application. Please also see terms and conditions of use for consumers.
Privacy notices for vaccine providers
The following Privacy notices outline how we manage vaccine provider information as part of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
- the Privacy Notice for Providers using the Commonwealth-procured Booking Platform explains how we collect, use and handle a provider's personal information for the Booking Platform.
- the Privacy Notice for providers using the COVID-19 Vaccine Administration System (CVAS) explains how we collect, handle and store your information in the CVAS.
- the Collection Notice for the Clinician Vaccine Integrated Platform (CVIP) explains how we collect, use and handle your personal information when you are using this application. Please also see the Terms and Conditions of Use for Providers for more information when using CVIP.
More information about COVID-19 vaccines
Find out more about COVID-19 vaccines and getting vaccinated for COVID-19.
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