From 1 January 2016, the Victorian Parliament will introduce legislation requiring all children attending child care or kindergarten to be fully immunised. The extension of the Government’s policy represents a significant change to the rules surrounding vaccination which currently include a ‘conscientious objectors’ exemption for parents with a moral or religious objection to vaccines. The Age reports that from 2016 the only circumstances in which a child will be exempt from vaccination is on medical grounds.

The importance of vaccination

High immunisation levels are necessary to prevent outbreaks of potentially fatal diseases, as vaccines are not 100% effective in protecting individuals. Outbreaks are prevented by establishing ‘herd immunity’. This occurs when the level of immunisation is so high that the disease does not exist in society, allowing vulnerable individuals such as infants too young to be vaccinated and those for whom the vaccine is ineffective, to be protected. For highly contagious diseases such as measles, herd immunity occurs when around 95% of the population is vaccinated. This rate can vary with individual diseases.

Disturbingly outbreaks of diseases, for which vaccines are available, are occurring more frequently. ABC News reports that there has been a significant increase in whooping cough, a disease that is potentially fatal for vulnerable groups such as infants. In Australia, there have been 860 more cases of whooping cough this year in comparison to 2014. Earlier this year, an outbreak of measles in the U.S. was traced back to Disneyland and caused concern based on the low levels of vaccination in some of the affected communities.

The increase in preventable diseases poses a significant health risk to the community and has led to the Victorian government introducing new measures that incentivise parents to vaccinate their children.

‘No jab, no play’

The new policy will make it compulsory for Victorian children to be fully immunised by the age of four against diptheria, measles, mumps, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough. Any exemption to this requirement can only be granted on medical grounds. As evidence suggests that disadvantaged parents often have difficulties in ensuring that their children are vaccinated, several groups, including concession card or medical card holders, refugees and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, will have an additional 16 weeks to comply with these requirements.

Other changes to the law have closed the loophole for ‘conscientious objectors’. The Federal Government announced in April that they would change the rules surrounding eligibility for childcare rebates and other tax benefits to include a requirement for full vaccination unless there was a medical issue. In addition, the Victorian Government now offers free whooping cough vaccines to pregnant women or parents with children under 6 months of age. These changes are aimed at increasing vaccination rates in Australia.

Controversy surrounding the change

Child immunisation levels have plateaued in Australia in recent years at around 92%. One of the reasons for this stagnation is the growth of the ‘anti-vaxxers’ movement, comprised of people who believe that vaccines are harmful and argue that a parent should have the right to choose whether vaccination is appropriate for their children. Anti-vaccination campaigner Wendy Lydall criticised the change in Victorian law, arguing that doctors rather than parents will be making the decision to send children to child care. Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy has stated that she would ‘pay no heed to those [who] go around putting mistruths out about vaccinations’, arguing that ‘it is simply irresponsible for people to ignore the science and choose not to vaccinate their child’.  Ms Hennessy stated that the issue was not just about individual children but was a community health issue given the impact of vaccination rates on the rest of society.

What does this mean for schools?

Legislation will be introduced into the Victorian Parliament this year, which will require all children to be vaccinated in order to attend childcare and kindergarten from 1 January 2016. TheGovernment will be ensuring that all early childhood service providers support families of enrolled children by providing information on how to access catch-up vaccines if necessary and require the documents to show their child’s immunisations are up-to-date. Unless an exemption applies, schools which have kindergartens should ensure that such relevant documentation is in student’s enrolment records to evidence compliance with the new vaccination laws from next year.