Vaccinations are substantially under-reported by pharmacists, with data for one year showing only half were being lodged with the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), research shows.

Public health researchers say although most of the shots are for influenza, under-reporting of vaccinations against pertussis, meningococcus and measles could lead to unnecessary repeat vaccinations and hinder efforts to track uptake across the population.

Analysis of data by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) in Sydney shows that 576,000 pharmacist vaccinations were recorded in the AIR between 2016 and 2019, of which some 450,000 (78%) were given last year.

It shows that 95% of these were flu shots, with vaccines including dTpa, meningococcal ACWY and MMR accounting for the remaining 5%.