• Family, youth and children

Never too late to vaccinate

Published 9 February 2023
Catch-up immunisation sessions now available for secondary school students

Every year, Council runs the Secondary School Immunisation Program which provides free vaccines to year 7 and 10 students.

The program is coordinated by Council’s Immunisation Department and administered through secondary school institutions located throughout the City of Port Phillip. 

It is important for secondary school students to keep up with their vaccinations because the protection provided by some childhood immunisations reduces over time and needs to be boosted in adolescence. 

Regular immunisation programming for secondary students includes: 

Year levelWhenImmunisations
Year 7 studentsFebruary to MarchHPV (Gardasil 9) and DTP (Boostrix/Adacel) vaccines
Year 10 students
April to MayMeningococcal ACWY (Nimenrix) vaccine

In addition to the regular program, this year, Council will also be offering catch-up immunisation sessions for any students who missed their vaccines during 2020 to 2022. 

There are two rounds of immunisations planned for secondary school students in 2023 (including catch-up sessions), which are as follows: 

Round 1 Immunisations  

Round 1 will provide vaccines to year 7’s as usual and catch-up vaccines to year 8’s as necessary. 

WhenLocation

Friday 10 February

St Mary’s College

Friday 24 February  

Albert Park College 

Wednesday 1 March

St Michael’s Grammar School 

Tuesday 14 March

Elwood College 

Friday 31 March  

Port Melbourne Secondary College  

Round 2 Immunisations 

Round 2 will provide vaccines to year 10’s as usual and vaccines to years 9, 11 and 12 as necessary.

WhenLocation

Monday 3 April  

St Michael’s Grammar School 

Tuesday 2 May  

Albert Park College 

Thursday 18 May  

St Mary’s College 

Tuesday 6 June 

Elwood College 

Parents and guardians should expect to receive an email from their child’s school one week before an upcoming session, informing them about the program with a link to the necessary consent form. If you do not receive an email a week before your school's planned session, please contact your child’s school directly. 

Secondary school students who are unable to have the vaccines at school or who attend school outside the City of Port Phillip are welcome to attend the community sessions instead. Bookings for the community sessions should be made via the immunisation webpage. 

If you have any questions related to the Secondary School Immunisation Program or catch-up sessions, please check out the immunisation webpage or email schoolimmunisation@portphillip.vic.gov.au