New Australian government campaign to encourage further childhood vaccination

The Australian government is rolling out a new three-year A$5.5 million ($4.1 million) immunization awareness campaign to encourage Australian parents and carers to get their children vaccinated, the Department of Health and Ageing announced on Sunday.

While Australia’s immunization rates are already high, the government wants all Australian children fully vaccinated before they start school. Research shows that when people are fully informed about the benefits of vaccination, they are more likely to vaccinate.

The three-year campaign will specifically target areas of low vaccination rates by addressing myths and misconceptions, while explaining the benefits of childhood vaccinations for both the individual and the community. A range of advertising platforms combined with direct engagement at over 11,000 child care centers will be utilized to target parents of children aged under five years.

Vaccination works and the Turnbull government fully supports it as an effective and safe tool to prevent the spread of many diseases that cause hospitalization, serious ongoing health conditions and sometimes death.

While Australia’s national coverage is 93%, there are still some areas where it is as low as 64%. These pockets of low coverage pose risks to the community, especially people who cannot be immunized because they are too young or for medical reasons.

‘No Jab No Pay’ policy

This campaign will build on the incredibly successful ‘No Jab No Pay’ policy – which has seen around 200,000 extra children vaccinated since the start of last year.

And as part of this ‘No Jab No Play’ policy, the Prime Minister is calling on states and territories to ban unvaccinated kids from attending child care or pre-school services, and child care centers and pre-schools will be required to publish their vaccination coverage rates.

The only allowable exemption from vaccination will be for medical reasons.