New health policy: No preschool or daycare for unvaccinated children during outbreaks
CHILDREN whose vaccinations are not up to date will be made to stay home from government preschools or childcare centres if there is an outbreak of illness. Is this the right move — VOTE NOW
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CHILDREN whose vaccinations are not up to date will be made to stay home from government preschools or childcare centres if there is an outbreak of illness.
Parents with children who are enrolled in government preschools, occasional care, family daycare, or respite services will, from the start of Term 2, be asked to provide evidence of their child’s immunisation status.
If there is an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease such as chickenpox, measles or mumps, then children who do not have up-to-date immunisation records will not be allowed to attend.
SA Health would determine how long the children must stay away.
The announcement of the new policy comes as Health Minister Jack Snelling continues to work on drafting laws that would give childcare centres the legal right to refuse enrolment to unvaccinated children.
The Advertiser revealed his plans last month. Mr Snelling is also considering whether to go as far as imposing a blanket ban on unvaccinated children attending childcare.
Some SA childcare centres already have a policy of refusing to care for unvaccinated children, although there have been cases where angry parents have challenged it in court.
Education and Child Development Minister Susan Close told The Advertiser the policy to keep children at home would help early childhood services “to act swiftly and ensure unvaccinated children have minimal exposure” to disease. “Children’s immune systems are still developing in their early years,” she said.
“Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way to protect them and others in the community by reducing the spread of disease.”
The latest vaccination figures, from September, show that 93.2 per cent of South Australian children aged five years and under were fully immunised.
The rate for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination was slightly higher at 94 per cent.
In 2014, the NSW Government changed the state’s Public Health Act so that children could not be enrolled at a childcare facility unless a parent or guardian provided an official record proving the child was fully immunised.
The Victorian Government introduced the same rules last year. And last January, the Federal Government’s “no jab, no pay” policy came into effect, meaning families would lose welfare payments if children were not fully immunised.
During the federal election campaign last year, Labor’s child development spokeswoman Kate Ellis wrote a strongly worded letter to Dr Close, warning that the current SA laws left parents “flying blind’’ when trying to protect their children from preventable childhood illnesses.
Ms Ellis wanted the State Government to “urgently strengthen” the law to “increase vaccination rates and give parents the information they need to keep their children safe”.