South Australia proposes review into immunisation and childcare

South Australia’s health minister, Mr Jack Snelling is proposing a law to give childcare centres the power to refuse unvaccinated children.

This would mean that at particular childcare centres, parents could be confident their baby/toddler is better protected from preventable diseases such as measles, rubella, meningococcal and whooping cough.

The suggested review of the new legislation for childcare centres comes off the back of a 300% increase of confirmed measles cases in Gawler. This in conjunction with figures being released identifying that South Australia’s immunisation rate is below 95%.  95% is the official rate required for residents to be vaccinated in order to protect the surrounding community and prevent outbreaks of disease.

New South Wales and Victoria have already enforced legislation preventing parents from enrolling their child into a childcare centre if they are unable to provide current immunisation records or an approved exemption.

The proposed legislation that the South Australian Health Minister is considering at this stage is more-so protecting childcare centres against lawsuits by giving them the right to refuse a child’s enrollment on the basis of the child not being immunised.