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February 3, 2026 — 11:30am
Victorian health officials feared the state’s childhood immunisation database was at risk of collapse after the Allan government pulled funding and local councils threatened to abandon the system over new fees.
Internal correspondence released under freedom of information, 15 months after The Age lodged the request, detail the hamfisted attempts to plug the funding gap that councils warned could compromise immunisation rates in Victoria.
The Department of Health had warned that Central Immunisation Records Victoria — a platform used to record vaccines, bookings, consent and stock — was at risk if councils refused to pay a new co-payment fee to plug a $2 million funding hole.
The department had previously assured local councils its state-run record system would remain free.
But in its 2024-25 budget, the Victorian government unexpectedly withheld funding to operate the platform.
“Provision of $2.0 million p.a. funding for the department to support the ongoing operations of CIRV from 24/25 onwards was not provided in the recent state budget,” a June 2024 department brief said.
The department feared that pursuing councils for the full cost to cover the funding shortfall would be too risky and potentially “compromise their current immunisation activities”. And if too many councils walked away from the platform, health officials also feared there wouldn’t be enough money to operate it.
Instead, councils were blindsided with a $6000 annual fee to use the system, plus a $2 charge for every jab administered.
“This has landed in a good place I think,” Health Department Secretary Euan Wallace wrote in a June 2024 email about the initial fee proposed.
If every council agreed to pay, the proposed funding arrangement would have recouped $1.2 million of $2 million needed each year to operate the database.
Under a national program, councils do about 430,000 immunisations for Victorian children each year. This represents about 90 per cent of all vaccinations for school-aged kids and 45 per cent of those for younger children and babies.
Councils are required to report this data to the Department of Health, either through Central Immunisation Records Victoria or privately operated databases.
Following a barrage of complaints, the department twice backed down, delaying the rollout of a $2.32 fee per-jab fee, capped at $25,000 a year, after receiving a barrage of complaints.
Several local councils asked how they could “hand back” responsibility to the state, complaining that they were already disproportionately bearing the cost of immunisations.
The department maintained councils were welcome to move to private competitors to record their vaccinations. But internal correspondence shows the department dreaded this possibility and reduced the co-payment fee to stop councils leaving for commercial alternatives.
“Have reduced pricing to councils to ensure CIRV is cheaper than its main competition,” briefing documents state.
Councils also warned the department they could be forced to scale down vaccination programs, cease other critical services, or charge vulnerable families.
“I have no choice but to re-inform you that we will not be paying,” Wellington Shire Council general manager of development Andrew Pomeroy told the department in August 2024.
“Another one …,” then-deputy secretary of eHealth Victoria Dr Lance Emerson wrote the same month, forwarding a complaint from Maroondah City Council.
Amid the funding fight, the main competitor to the government system, VaxApp, proactively approached municipalities to pitch their product.
Moira Shire asked the City of Melbourne why they already used VaxApp and if they would ever turn to the government’s record system.
“We would never consider moving back to CIRV (even if it was still free),” the City of Melbourne replied.
Seventy councils and health services used the record system in 2024. This has since fallen to 40, with at least one more council, the City of Yarra, preparing to transition away from it.
Councils explained they had invested significant resources in migrating to and developing staff proficiency in Central Immunisation Records Victoria in good faith, on the basis it would always be free.
Despite the correspondence revealing that Warrnambool City Council had asked how to “hand back” immunisation services to the department, chief executive Andrew Mason said the council had “very reluctantly” agreed to pay the fee but remained “deeply disappointed” in the cost-shifting.
“We came to the conclusion that charging users to cover the software cost was a poor public health outcome and could result in reduced immunisation rates,” he said in a statement to The Age.
Stonnington Council also stayed with the platform.
“Council is concerned that exiting CIRV would fragment public health data across private platforms and undermine data security,” a spokesman said.
“Council already subsidises the majority of its immunisation program, and the introduction of a fee to register vaccinations, which councils are required by law to do, blindsided the industry and represents further cost shifting to local government.”
A Department of Health spokeswoman said vaccination was one of the most effective ways to protect the health of Victorians.
“The Victorian government funded the development and initial operation of CIRV to cover the council’s costs. If councils do not wish to use this platform, it is not mandatory.”
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