By Melinda Howells and Elaine Ford
The Queensland Government will push ahead with legislation to allow childcare centres to reject children who have not been vaccinated.
Health Minister Cameron Dick said immunisation rates of Queensland children in the last quarter of 2014 were just over 92 per cent, short of the 95 per cent target.
“We need to do more to get up to that 95 per cent basis,” he said.
“What we’re doing is I suppose strengthening the system to allow childcare centres to permit them to make a decision about how and on what basis children should be enrolled.”
Mr Dick said the laws could help increase that figure by encouraging parents to vaccinate.
“It’s as much about education and triggering a response as it is a very hard line [we’re taking], because we’ve got to bring people forward together and that’s the approach I would like to adopt,” he said.
“Some parents aren’t doing [vaccinations] deliberately, some parents perhaps don’t have the information, may not have simply got around to it, may have forgotten about it – hopefully will act as a trigger … in the community where people can say ‘vaccination, it’s part of enrolment – I’ll get my son or daughter done’.”
Mr Dick said the State Government would consult with the community before taking a bill to Parliament.
“I’m not just going to put the legislation through without consulting on it, so I’ll be talking to educators, be talking to leaders in the childcare and kindy sectors, and health experts to make sure we get if right,” he said.
“It’s really making sure we give that power to local communities and it’s about empowering them to stop preventable diseases.”
He said there had been a lot of discussion about immunisation in the community.
“The science is very clear on this – vaccination does not cause things like autism, or allergies or asthma, it doesn’t weaken children’s immune systems – any reactions to vaccinations are generally mild and temporary,” he said.
“Advice from [Queensland] chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young [is] vaccination offers the best protection, not just for children, but for everyone.
“Natural therapies aren’t a substitute.”
But Mr Dick said the Government would consider “conscientious objection” as part of the process.
“I’m not going to exclude conscientious objection or say there’s no capacity to object,” he said.
“I think we need to look at that and get advice what does that exactly means – is it a personal preference or is it based on say some religious belief?
“I think we need to look at that carefully, rather than have a hard rule initially.”
However, Deputy Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the LNP wanted to see evidence that giving childcare centres the power to reject unvaccinated children would work.
“Given that this has been done in New South Wales, I’d like to see the evidence that it’s actually led to an increase in immunisation rates and therefore more safety for children,” he said.
Childcare centres a ‘hotbed of illnesses’
The executive director of parenting advocacy group The ParentHood, Jo Briskey, backed the State Government’s plan on “a difficult issue”.
“Thousands of parents have been calling on government, both at the national level and state level, to help boost immunisation rates of kids – this is about the health and safety of our children,” she said.
“I want to see it stepped up and a real focus on addressing the lack of immunisation rates across Queensland.
“Parents of childcare children know that childcare centres are a hotbed of illnesses.
“To hear the Minister say that we’re only at a rate of 92 per cent, when we should be at 95 [per cent] – that’s really concerning.
“I really want to see that we take good, strong action to achieve what’s safe for our children.”
Rebecca Swainson, childcare centre director on Brisbane’s bayside, said it would help protect children from preventable diseases like measles and chicken pox.
“It’s not to say that we wouldn’t accept those children if they came to our centre, but it would give us that ability to protect those children and those parents in our care that have made that conscious decision to immunise their children,” she said.