No Jab No Play: Campaign has a big win as thousands of former anti-vaxxers immunise their children

IT’S a major win for children and a big win for the No Jab No Pay campaign more than 5700 former anti-vaxxers have immunised their kids.

More children are being vaccinated following the No Jab, No Play campaign.

IT’S a major win for children and a big win for the No Jab No Play campaign — more than 5700 former anti-vaxxers have immunised their kids since the law came into effect.

The latest figures show one in five of the 30,092 conscientious objectors registered in December 2015 have since decided to protect their children.

Minister for Social Services Christian Porter said vaccination objectors were clearly getting the message.

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Under the No Jab No Play policy, parents are required to ensure their children meet the immunisation requirements to be eligible for and to continue receiving Child Care Benefit, Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A supplement payment.

As a result, the parents of 5738 children who were in ­receipt of childcare benefits but were previously registered a vaccination objection, have changed their mind since January 1.

“I’m particularly pleased to see that large numbers of vaccination objectors are getting the message and doing the right thing by their children and their communities,” Mr Porter said.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter. Picture: Colin Murty

It is a major win for The Sunday Telegraph campaign, which began in 2013.

Since the start of No Jab No Play, the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register shows immunisation rates had also increased across the board for one, two and five-year-old children. For the first time, five-year-old coverage rates are now over 93 per cent, the highest ever.

In more good news, ACIR figures show more than 148,000 children who were not up to date with their immunisations have now caught up.

“To give our kids the best protection against diseases such as whooping cough, we’re aiming towards a herd immunity level of 95 per cent,” Mr Porter said.

Greg and Catherine Hughes with daughter Olivia. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

Catherine Hughes, whose four-week-old baby Riley died of whooping cough in the weeks before the policy was announced in April 2015, said she was pleased the message to vaccinate was getting through.

“To hear the news that conscientious objector figures are dropping is pleasing and I hope it continues,” Mrs Hughes said.

The Australian Vaccination- sceptics Network has raised more than $150,000 to mount a High Court challenge to the laws but the government said it would not back down.

“I find it disheartening that vaccination objectors are willing to put the health and safety of children at risk on the basis of personal beliefs and medically unfounded conspiracies,” Mr Porter said.