What about adolescents with disability?

Key facts

  • Vaccination is recommended for all adolescents with disability.

  • If you decide not to vaccinate your adolescent with disability, they will be at risk of catching a range of infectious diseases.

  • Several high-quality studies have confirmed that vaccination does not cause autism or other disabilities.

Last updated on 13 August 2025.

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Why does my adolescent with disability need all of their recommended vaccines?

The National Immunisation Program schedule is carefully planned to protect all adolescents from serious diseases. This includes adolescents with complex health needs or medical histories.

Research shows that people with disability have higher rates of hospitalisation and other serious outcomes from some vaccine preventable diseases compared to people without disability.1,2 This includes diseases that affect their breathing and lungs, such as influenza (flu).3,4,5,6

Compared to people without disability, some people with disability face challenges when accessing cancer screening programs.7 This may lead to some people being at higher risk of not being treated for the types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause cancer.8 These include cervical cancer in women and oral cancers in men.8,9

Vaccinating your adolescent on time gives them the best possible protection against serious infectious diseases. This includes diseases that cause breathing and lung problems (respiratory disease) and HPV-related cancers.

By vaccinating your adolescent, you also help prevent the spread of vaccine preventable diseases to family members (e.g. siblings and grandparents) and other people who may help care for your adolescent.

What if I choose to delay or not vaccinate my adolescent with disability?

Vaccination is recommended for all adolescents except in very specific circumstances. Examples include having had a severe reaction like anaphylaxis from a specific vaccine, or having certain medical conditions or specific medical treatments. Discuss with your doctor, nurse or preferred healthcare provider whether your adolescent with disability has one of these medical conditions. 

If you choose to delay vaccination, your adolescent with disability will be at an increased risk of catching a serious infection and going to hospital. Depending on your adolescent’s disability, these severe illnesses can even be fatal.3,4,5 Even when adolescents with disability receive treatment in a hospital, some of these infectious diseases can lead to more serious health effects in the adolescents who catch them.

By delaying vaccination or choosing not to vaccinate, you increase the risk that your adolescent with disability will catch a serious infection and spread it to other family members. This could include younger siblings, grandparents or yourself. Your adolescent with disability will also be at risk when travelling or being visited by friends and family who have recently travelled within or outside of Australia.

You may also face restrictions on some government payments (e.g. Centrelink).

What about autism or other disabilities?

Many large research studies have found vaccines do not cause autism or other disabilities in children or adolescents. The idea that vaccination caused autism or other disabilities arose from badly conducted studies10 and online media.11

In 2004, the authors of one badly conducted study retracted their claim that there was any association between vaccination and autism. In 2010, the UK General Medical Council found the results reported in another badly conducted study were ‘proven to be false’. This study was withdrawn from the journal it was published in.12

Several high-quality studies have compared the health of large numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated children over many years. Based on these studies, researchers can confirm that vaccination does not cause autism or other disabilities.13,14

Please note: In SKAI Adolescent, the phrase ‘your adolescent’ refers to all guardian relationships where health decisions for an adolescent fall under your responsibility.

After consultation with experts from the Vax4Health research team at the Kirby Institute, SKAI Adolescent uses the phrase adolescent or adolescents ‘with disability’ to refer to young people who have an intellectual and/or physical disability.

Drafts of this page were also reviewed by members of our Consumer Advisory Group and experts from the Vax4Health research team.


  1. Weise JC, Srasuebkul P & Trollor JN. Potentially preventable hospitalisations of people with intellectual disability in New South Wales. Medical Journal of Australia 2021; 215:31-36
  2. Stark ZL, Buttery JP, Antolovich GC et al. The impact of influenza A on children with disabilities. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2004;40:332-33
  3. Schedina MBBS & Donaldson LJ. 2010, Paediatric mortality related to pandemic influenza A H1N1 in England: an observational population based study. The Lancet 2010;76:1846-51
  4. D Pérez-Padilla R, Fernández R, García-Sancho C et al. Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus and Down syndrome patients. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2010;16:1312-314
  5. Cameron JC, Allan G, Johnston Fet al. Severe complications of chickenpox in hospitalised children in the UK and Ireland. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2007;92:1062-66
  6. Hauge SH, Bakken IJ, de Blasio BF et al. Risk conditions in children hospitalized with influenza in Norway, 2017–2019. BMC Infectious Diseases 2020;20:769
  7. Hughes-McCormack L, Greenlaw N, McSkimming P et al. Changes over time in the management of long-term conditions in primary health care for adults with intellectual disabilities, and the healthcare inequality gap. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 2021;34:634-47
  8. Choi JY, Yeob KE, Hong SH et al. Disparities in the diagnosis, treatment and survival rate of cervical cancer among women with and without disabilities. Cancer Control 2021;28:10732748211055268
  9. Chandrupatla SG, Khalid I & Tavares M. Oral HPV prevalence and HPV vaccination among special needs population in the US. Papillomavirus Research 2019;8:100182
  10. Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A et al. et al. [RETRACTED] Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet 1998;351:637-41
  11. Larson HJ, Wilson R, Hanley S et al. Tracking the global spread of vaccine sentiments: the global response to Japan’s suspension of its HPV vaccine recommendation. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 2014;10:2543-50
  12. Deer BN. How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed. BMJ 2011;342:c5347
  13. Taylor LE, Swerdfeger AL & Eslick GD. Vaccines are not associated with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Vaccine 2014;32:3623-29
  14. World Health Organization. Meeting of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, 7–8 June 2017. Available from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WER9228