SmartVax News ARCHIVES
GP Tackles Delayed Allergen Intake in Infants
The safe introduction of peanut and other food allergens to infants is being monitored as part of a new nationwide GP project – called SmartStartAllergy – to promote best practice in reducing allergy.
13 November 2019 – AusDoc.PLUS
Doctor receives AMA Excellence in Health Award
Perth doctor, Dr Alan Leeb, who developed SmartVax, a program for monitoring vaccine safety after the Fluvax crisis in 2010, was this week recognised for his contribution to the medical profession of more than 30 years.
31 May 2019 – Government of Western Australia, Department of Health
How a GP caught in the Fluvax scare developed a national vaccine safety program
Dr Alan Leeb’s experiences as a GP caught in the middle of a national vaccine scare led him to devise technology to track adverse events in real time. His monitoring system earned him the AMA’s Excellence in Healthcare award.
30 May 2019 – AusDoc.PLUS
Dr Alan Leeb awarded 2019 AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award
The AusVaxSafety team would like to congratulate our Perth-based collaborator Dr Alan Leeb who received the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Excellence in Healthcare award last month. Dr Leeb was acknowledged for renewing confidence in childhood vaccines through the innovative adverse events tracking system, SmartVax.
29 May 2019 – AusVaxSafety
Perth GP wins AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award
A Perth GP who developed a surveillance program to actively monitor vaccine safety in real time is the recipient of the 2019 AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award. Dr Leeb has once again shown how WA doctors lead Australian medicine in so many ways.
27 May 2019 – Australian Medical Association (AMA) WA
Local data key to boosting vaccine safety message
A Perth GP has been awarded the AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award for renewing confidence in childhood vaccines through his innovative adverse events tracking system.
27 May 2019 – Medical Republic
Perth GP wins AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award
A Perth GP who developed a surveillance program to actively monitor vaccine safety in real time is the recipient of the 2019 AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award.
24 May 2019 – Mirage News
Perth GP wins AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award
A Perth GP who developed a surveillance program to actively monitor vaccine safety in real time is the recipient of the 2019 AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award.
AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone, announced Dr Alan Leeb as the winner at the AMA National Conference today.
24 May 2019 – Australian Medical Association (AMA)
Our world-leading tool for vaccine safety
One GP’s response to an outbreak of seizures in young children vaccinated against influenza in 2010 is on the verge of realising full surveillance of adverse reactions to vaccines under the National Immunisation Program.
31 October 2018 – Medical Republic
Vaccine side effects: Australia's world first surveillance system
A world-first surveillance program that tracks adverse reactions to vaccinations will soon monitor every vaccine on the national immunisation program (NIP).
22 October 2018 – The Age
Vaccine side effects: Australia's world first surveillance system
A world-first surveillance program that tracks adverse reactions to vaccinations will soon monitor every vaccine on the national immunisation program (NIP).
22 October 2018 – Sydney Morning Herald
AusVaxSafety reports world-first active vaccine safety data for new HPV vaccine
Using automated Smartvax software, which sends an SMS survey to parents 3 days after vaccination to ask about any adverse events, the AusVaxSafety program has been monitoring and reporting to the Australian Government Department of Health on Gardasil9® since February 2018. No vaccine safety concerns have been identified to date; the most common and expected findings have been reports of injection site reactions in 3.8% of reports.
4 October 2018 – AusVaxSafety
SmartVax monitors over 1 million vaccination encounters
SmartVax achieves a major milestone by monitoring over 1 million vaccination encounters.
28 August 2018 – SmartVax
It’s safe to deliver Men B and MenACWY together, GP data shows
The first data confirming the safety of concomitant administration of MenB and MenACWY vaccines has been welcomed as “great news” for immunisation prescribers.
7 June 2018 – AusDoc.PLUS
Advances in Vaccination Safety
Australia’s landmark system to monitor adverse reactions is increasing patients’ confidence in the safety of vaccines.
Using SmartVax as the main data collection tool in general practice, AusVaxSafety receives and analyses de-identified data from all States and Territories and reports this to the Department of Health and TGA.
12 May 2017 – AMA New South Wales
RACGP Endorses SmartVax
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is pleased to advise it endorses SmartVax.
To find out more about RACGP endorsements, click on READ MORE below.
24 January 2017 – RACGP
Here's the backstory to a landmark development for vaccine safety
In the past few years there have been some important advances in vaccine safety in Australia, with the development of new systems for monitoring adverse reactions.
This month marks a landmark in the development of these systems, as AusVaxSafety is now routinely reporting on all vaccines given to people of any age.
17 January 2017 – Croakey
SmartVax Announced as Finalist in WA Health Awards
SmartVax has been announced as a finalist for the 2016 WA Health Excellence Awards in Category 7: Innovative solutions for improving safety and quality.
The WA Health Excellence Awards recognise innovation and excellence in service delivery across eight project categories, and other individual awards.
October 2016
SmartVax unveils new feature
SmartVax has unveiled a new optional intelligent fully automated SMS reminder service for immunisation providers.
A link to your online booking system may be added within the text for patient convenience.
October 2016
SmartVax receives GSK Immunisation Grant
Dr Alan Leeb and Ian Peters accept the 2016 GSK Immunisation grant awarded to SmartVax at the National Immunisation Conference 2016.
8 June 2016
Real-time safety surveillance of seasonal influenza vaccines in children
Increased febrile reactions in Australian children from one influenza vaccine brand in 2010 diminished confidence in influenza immunisation, highlighting the need for improved vaccine safety surveillance.
AusVaxSafety, a national vaccine safety surveillance system collected adverse events in young children for 2015 influenza vaccine brands in real time through parent/carer reports via SMS/email.
29 October 2015 – Eurosurveillance, Volume 20, Issue 43
SmartVax Announced as Finalist in WA Health Awards
SmartVax has been announced as a finalist for the 2015 WA Health Excellence Awards in Category 7: Innovative solutions for improving safety and quality.
The WA Health Excellence Awards recognise innovation and excellence in service delivery across eight project categories, and other individual awards.
October 2015
Fund Flu Vax Monitoring
Active monitoring of the safety and effectiveness of influenza vaccine should become a routine, funded component of Australia’s influenza vaccine program, says an Australian expert in infectious disease epidemiology.
17 November 2014 – MJA InSight
Vigilance still needed for flu vaccine
Australia is vulnerable to a repeat of the 2010 flu vaccination scare unless it steps up safety monitoring, an infectious diseases expert warns.
17 November 2014 – AusDoc.PLUS
GP SmartVax app raises the standard
Medicus interviews Dr Alan Leeb, winner of the 2014 RAGP Peter Mudge Medal, about his innovative paediatric vaccine safety monitoring system – SmartVax.
November 2014 – Medicus, Volume 54, Issue 10
Vax Surveillance 'Needs Federal Push'
Immunisation experts are urging the federal government to support a national active surveillance program to monitor adverse events associated with vaccinations.
7 November 2014 – Medical Observer
SmartVax: a ground breaking initiative
Smartvax, a ground-breaking general practice initiative pioneered by the RACGP’s Dr Alan Leeb, is a post-vaccination surveillance system strengthening patient safety in Australia.
7 November 2014 – RACGP In Practice Newsletter
Dr Leeb awarded RACGP Peter Mudge Medal
The Peter Mudge Medal is awarded to a GP who has “advanced the discipline of general practice and the goals of the College and whose original research has the most potential to significantly influence daily general practice”. Dr Alan Leeb was presented with the 2014 Peter Mudge Medal at the RACGP GP14 Conference for his work in developing an innovative paediatric vaccine safety monitoring system, following the suspension of seasonal influenza vaccine in children in April 2010.
9-11 October 2014
Post-vaccination texts track side effects
A Perth GP who found himself at the centre of the Fluvax scare has responded by developing a completely new adverse event reporting system.
22 April 2014 – AusDoc.PLUS
SMS direct from PMS for active adverse event surveillance
A West Australian research team has developed a tool that can seamlessly extract patient data from practice management software and send an SMS query to patients to conduct active adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) surveillance.
21 April 2014 – Pulse+IT
GP texts to follow up flu jab
A Perth doctor has set up a pioneering system to monitor bad reactions to immunisations using text messages, which aims to avoid a repeat of WA’s 2010 flu vaccine crisis that affected hundreds of children.
Alan Leeb, principal GP at Illawarra Medical Centre in Ballajura, devised the Smartvax system, which texts a patient or parent of a child who has had a vaccination to ask if they have had a reaction to the jab.
21 April 2014 – The West Australian
AMA President discusses SmartVax
21 April 2014 – 4BC Brisbane Radio
Text message plan to boost vaccination security and monitor unwanted medical reactions
A report in The Medical Journal of Australia, to be released today, has tracked the effectiveness of an SMS-based program called SmartVax.
20 April 2014 – The Courier Mail
SmartVax contributes data to Western Australia Vaccine Safety Surveillance - Annual Report 2013.
21 January 2014 – Department of Health, Western Australia
Study of CSL's Fluvax finds higher local reaction rates in adults
An Australian study that compared levels of adverse reactions in adults who received two different flu vaccines in 2010 has found a higher level of injection site reactions in those who received Fluvax, the CSL Biotherapies vaccine that was linked to febrile seizures in young children.
23 August 2011 – Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy