Since Victorian No Jab No Play legislation was introduced in January 2016, Swan Hill Rural City Council has seen a 1.56 per cent increase in four-year-old children being vaccinated.
Data from the Swan Hill Rural City Council showed the percentage of four-year-old children being vaccinated was at 92.86 per cent in January 2016 with that number increasing to 94.42 per cent this year.
Swan Hill Council public health and regulatory services coordinator Trish Ficarra said the increase in kindergarten aged children being immunised since the legislation was enforced was “fairly substantial”.
“Numbers fluctuate between age groups, but we have definitely seen an increase in the one-year-old and four-year-old age groups,” Ms Ficarra said.
In January 2016, one-year-old immunisation rates in Swan Hill were at 91.6 per cent.
They are now at 93.33 per cent.
However, the number of children vaccinated in the two-year-old age bracket has actually decreased.
In January 2016, the percentage of vaccinated two-year-olds in Swan Hill was at 95.95 per cent.
It is now at 86.36 per cent, which is a 9.59 per cent decrease.
Ms Ficarra said the percentage of two-year-olds vaccinated fluctuated each quarter.
“Not all two-year-old children attend child care, which means the policy doesn’t affect them until they reach kindergarten,” she said.
Last week Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was confident his plan to ban all unvaccinated children from kindergartens and childcare centres would be enforced Australia wide.
“I am calling on the states and territories to support a concerted national policy so that children who are not vaccinated cannot attend childcare or preschool centres,” Mr Turnbull said.
Our national policy should be no jab no pay, no jab no play.”
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (March 22).
