Investor Presentaiton
No Jab, No Play
Rationale
In 2019, changes to the Public Health Act 2016 and School Education Act 1999
required a child's immunisation status to be up-to-date to enrol into a child care
service, community kindergarten or school. A child care service includes long day
care and family day care. A child is considered up-to-date if they have received
all vaccinations listed on the National Immunisation Schedule for their age.
These legislative changes, referred to as 'No Jab No Play', were effective from
22 July 2019.
There are a limited number of circumstances in which a child may be exempt from
this requirement. Child care services, community kindergartens, and schools are
required to report these exempt children for follow-up.
Child care services are directed to report a child's immunisation status at the time
of enrolment, while community kindergartens and schools are directed to report
a student's immunisation status by the end of term 1 each year. The different
reporting requirements of child care services, kindergartens, and schools has
resulted in 2 reporting cohorts. These are:
children enrolled in child care services during a full financial year (i.e. between
1 July and 30 June) with an immunisation status that is not up-to-date
children enrolled in community kindergartens and schools in term 1 of a
calendar year (i.e. between 1 January and 31 March) with an immunisation
status that is not up-to-date.
The immunisation records of the children reported as not up-to-date by child care
services, community kindergartens and schools are confirmed by comparing to
the Australian Immunisation Register. Children with an immunisation status that
is not up-to-date are referred to the local public health unit to provide support for
families to access local immunisation services.
Parents are also able to request support through the school or child care service
regardless of their child's immunisation status.
Results
Of the 584 children who did not have an up-to-date immunisation status as
reported in the 2021-22 reporting period, 278 (47.6 per cent) are now recorded as
up-to-date as of 6 July 2023.
In the 2022-23 reporting period, 668 children were reported by child care services
(n=33), community kindergartens (n=24) and schools (n=611) as having an
immunisation status of not up-to-date. As of 6 July 2023, the immunisation status
of 144 (21.6 per cent) of these children is now considered up-to-date, while a
further 30 children (4.5 per cent) are on a catch-up schedule.
The number of children reported as having an immunisation status of not
up-to-date at enrolment in 2022-23 increased by 14.5 per cent from 2021-22.
This may be attributed to the impact of COVID-19 on vaccine uptake that includes
vaccine hesitancy and fatigue, and an increase in the number of children arriving
from overseas following reopening of the borders to overseas arrivals. Public
health unit follow up of these children is ongoing.
An evaluation of the impact of this legislation on immunisation rates was
completed with results to be released in the later part of 2023.
Contents
About us
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Significant issues Report on operations Agency performance Operational disclosures • Key performance indicators • Financial disclosures and compliance • AppendixView entire presentation