PARENTS who declare they have a conscientious objection to immunising their children are finally on notice — and not before time.
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The federal government has declared that from January 2016, these parents will no longer gain access to taxpayer-funded childcare benefits and an end-of-year family tax benefit.
Latest figures show the Great South Coast region has the highest vaccination rate in the country, with 95.4 per cent of five-year-olds fully immunised.
But worryingly, there are still 193 children in our region who are not fully immunised — 80 of them due to a personal or philosophical decision by their parents against the national vaccination program.
In 1999, just 0.23 per cent of children who were not immunised across Australia fell into the conscientious objector category.
By 2014, this had grown to 1.77 per cent, alarming the government and forcing it to introduce tough new rules on childcare benefits.
There is no doubt that immunisation is surrounded by myths and misconceptions and parents, particularly first-timers, become concerned about vaccine safety and effectiveness.
Years of research shows the risk of complications from childhood diseases such as measles is much higher than the risk of any reaction from an immunisation.
Serious side-effects or allergic reactions to vaccines are rare.
Researchers have not established any link between immunisation and autism, diabetes or sudden unexpected death in infancy, often cited as concerns by conscientious objectors.
The “anti-vax” movement is selfish. They rely on the huge majority of families who do the right thing to protect their own children from life-threatening diseases such as measles, polio, tetanus and whooping cough.
The success of any immunisation program depends on maintaining high rates of participation.
Smallpox is a case in point and polio has disappeared from many countries as well.
Let’s hope the government’s move will promote healthy communities and help signal the end of more diseases.