THINK OF THE KIDS

PARENTS are copping a jab in the ribs to motivate them to have kids vaccinated.

Gold Coast Health has gone on the front foot to elevate vaccination levels in a city that trails the national average and has fallen well below the desired 95 per cent rate that ensures herd immunity. Following our reports this month of a whooping cough outbreak at the Palm Beach State School, which led to parents of unvaccinated children being asked to keep them home for the rest of the term, it would be reasonable to assume people everywhere on the Coast would be lining up at their GP or at council and government clinics for shots against that disease and the many others that lead to misery and even death.

But we should not assume. Certainly Gold Coast Health isn’t – and it is to be congratulated for its free clinics, its call centre that actively pursues households that have fallen behind in vaccination schedules, and in providing a one-off home visit if warranted. The importance of vaccination cannot be stressed enough. Selfish people have to stop putting others, particularly innocent children, at risk.