No Jab No Pay drives record immunisation rates

Australia’s immunisation rates are continuing to climb with Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children now above herd immunity. Immunisation rates for all five-year-old children in Australia have again hit a record high.

IMMUNISATION rates have hit a new record high in Australia — in stark contrast to Samoa, where barely a third of its children are immunised and a measles outbreak has claimed more than 40 lives.

In Australia it is good news, with the national coverage for five-year-olds now at 94.82 per cent, just 0.18 per cent off the gold standard of 95 per cent.

The target of 95 per cent provides “herd immunity” and stops the spread of highly infectious diseases such as measles.

New data released from the September 2019 quarter show the continued growth of immunisation coverage, up from 94.78 per cent in the June quarter.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island childhood immunisation rates are now sitting at an impressive 97.05 per cent, a new record high for five-year-olds.

Since the introduction of No Jab No Play/Pay initiatives championed by The Sunday Telegraph and implemented by both state and federal governments since 2014, immunisation rates have risen year on year.

Immunisation rates have hit record highs

In 2009, the rates for fully vaccinated five-year-olds was only 83 per cent.

No Jab No Pay legislation, first introduced federally in 2015 and tightened in 2017, targeted Child Care Benefit, the Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement for those who refused to vaccinate.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the initiatives were working.

“I am delighted that our public health campaigns and immunisation programs are protecting more Australians. Immunisation saves and protects lives,” he said.

“Australia now has world-leading vaccination rates for children which are well above the global vaccination coverage of 85 per cent.

“Phase three of the campaign delivered a public relations strategy specifically focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents of children aged from birth to five years.

“It also targeted Aboriginal Medical Services, which are a trusted source of information for parents, particularly in regional and remote communities.”

The lowest vaccination rates in NSW include the Richmond coastal region in Northern NSW with a rate of 84.81 per cent and North Sydney with vaccination rate for five-year-olds at 89.83 per cent.

Meanwhile there have been over 2600 cases of measles in Samoa and more than 40 deaths, most of them children aged under four.

The disease has taken hold due to low immunisation rates. According to data from the WHO and UNICEF, the country's national immunisation rate fell from 74 per cent to just 34 per cent in the past two years after the deaths of two Samoan infants who received improperly prepared vaccines, administered by local nurses.

Originally published as No Jab No Pay drives record immunisation rates