As the state government moves to make it mandatory to vaccinate children before they can attend childcare, a recent report reveals Maribyrnong has the second-highest rate of vaccine-preventable diseases in Melbourne’s west, while Hobsons Bay has the lowest.
The Population Health Data report, based on 2011-12 figures, compared rates of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and chicken pox, in Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Melton and Wyndham.
The report found there were 290 cases of vaccine-preventable diseases for every 100,000 in Maribyrnong and 246 in Hobsons Bay. Melton had the highest rate at 367.9.
Figures provided by Hobsons Bay council reveal 93.69 per cent of 12 to 15-month-old children are fully vaccinated (compared with 90.4 per cent statewide) and 92.62 per cent of 24 to 27-month-old children are fully vaccinated (compared with 87.8 per cent statewide).
In the five-year-old group, 93.33 per cent were fully vaccinated compared with the Victorian average of 92.6 per cent.
Current figures were not provided by Maribyrnong council, but its most recent annual report showed the percentage of children aged 12 to 15 months who were fully immunised in 2012-13 was 92.68 per cent, down from 94.23 per cent the previous year.
Altona MP and Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the Department of Health and Human Services was consulting its New South Wales counterpart about “no jab, no play” laws.
“My department is working hard on preparing legislation to require that all children must be vaccinated before they can be enrolled in childcare,” she said.
“Refusing to vaccinate your child puts not just them but also my child and other children at risk.”
Altona Meadows mother of nine Kylie Strickland said anyone who believed they were making an informed decision about not immunising their child was selfish.
“They need to be shown what Melbourne was like a generation ago with many of our own parents or families affected by polio and measles,” she said.
“As for autism [being linked to vaccination], having spent some time in Papua New Guinea where immunisation is just starting to reach all communities, there’s still autism but there are far greater victims – far greater – of polio and TB.”
