NSW vaccination rates hit record high but Byron Bay lags behind
NSW has its highest vaccination rates on record despite the anti-vax stronghold of Byron Bay. Now the State Government is being called on to intervene if we are to hit the gold standard of “herd immunity”. CHECK OUT YOUR SUBURB’S VAX RATES
NSW
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MORE Australian five-year-olds are fully immunised than ever before, new data has revealed.
Official records for the three months to September show the national immunisation rate for five-year-old children was 94.52 per cent. That’s the highest rate on record and up from 94.42 per cent the previous quarter.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said today the rise shows most parents are getting the message about the benefits of vaccinations.
But he said it’s not a time for the coalition to rest on its laurels.
“There’s still work to do and we must remain vigilant as there are some areas throughout the country where child vaccination rates are lower than what we would like them to be,” Mr Hunt said.
“Immunisation saves lives and protects lives and it is important that we keep the public informed about its benefits.”
It comes after The Sunday Telegraph revealed NSW has its highest vaccination rates on record — but the state government has been urged to intervene in one anti-vax stronghold if we are to finally achieve “herd immunity”.
In the last quarter, immunisation rates for children fully vaccinated at 12 months of age hit 94 per cent and for children fully vaccinated at five years of age hit 94.7 per cent, proving the success of our No Jab No Play campaign.
Herd immunity is when a disease cannot take hold because 95 per cent of the population has been vaccinated.
But Northern NSW stopped NSW hitting this gold standard of health because it only has 88 per cent vaccination, which is itself due to Byron Bay’s worrying 66.8 per cent vaccination rate.
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Recently Byron Shire Council voted to continue using council-owned venues to promote anti- vaccination propaganda, which continues to feed the conspiracy-driven distrust in science and medicine. Several councillors are openly anti-vax.
Byron councillor Paul Spooner, who called for an end to council venues “tacitly endorsing” anti-vax propaganda, called on the state government to override the council.
“It’s an issue for the state if you have a rogue council actively supporting these opinions,” Mr Spooner told The Sunday Telegraph.
Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord said legislative measures were needed “to override local government authorities allowing council venues to be used by anti-vaccination and anti-fluoride groups”.
NSW Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases Dr Vicky Sheppeard said vaccination rates for children aged five had increased “by over six per cent from 2010 to 2018”.
Some academics have claimed that No Jab No Play and No Jab No Pay laws, which began in 2014 after a The Sunday Telegraph campaign, have not worked but, year on year, vaccination rates have trended upwards to their current record high.
The state government further strengthened No Jab No Play laws again this year.
“From 1 January 2018, NSW Government law requires all children, except those with a medical exemption or on a catch up program, to be vaccinated before they can be enrolled into preschools and early childhood centres,” Dr Sheppeard said.
All local health districts in greater Sydney are now over 93 per cent and six LHDs including the Central Coast, the Far West and Western NSW, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Hunter New England and the Murrumbidgee LHDs have reached the gold standard of over 95 per cent, meaning they have herd immunity.
Dr Sheppeard said NSW now had the highest vaccination rates in Australia for Aboriginal children at five years of age at more than 97 per cent and the government had spent a record $22.75 million on statewide immunisation programs this year.
Blue Mountains mum Taylor Oldfield, 28, has had her two-year-old daughter Cali fully vaccinated and her new baby girl Bronte is due her first found at six weeks of age.
“Vaccination is important to protect your own child but others around you. I vaccinate because I would never forgive myself if my child caught a disease that could have been prevented,” she said.
- With AAP