Vaccinations climb

Highest coverage in five years but not yet ‘herd immunity’

VACCINATION rates for young children on the Gold Coast have climbed to their highest rates in the past five years.

But all areas remain beneath the 95 per cent national threshold needed for “herd immunity.”

Surfers Paradise was the worst of the 11 Gold Coast and Tweed areas covered by the ‘Healthy Communities: Immunisation Rates for Children’ report, with just 86.8 per cent of two-year-old children covered.

Tweed Valley followed closely behind on 87.4 per cent, also for two-year-olds.

The immunisation report showed how many children had been immunised in the area across the year 2016-17, for age groups of one, two and five-year-olds.

According to the figure, 1728 children on the Gold Coast are not fully immunised.

The two-year-old age group recorded the lowest vaccination rates across the city of 91.2 per cent, slightly down from 2013-14 which recorded 91.7 per cent.

Gold Coast Medical Association president Dr Sonu Haikerwal said the low rates for two-year-olds could be due to changes in the vaccination schedule.

“If I had to guess, the immunisation program has had

a few changes,” she said. “But (the vaccination rate) is rising, which is a positive.”

Since 2012-13, vaccination of one-year-olds across the Gold Coast rose from 90.7 per cent, to 93.1 per cent.

Vaccination of five-yearolds records increased from 89.3 per cent to 92.2 per cent.

Dr Haikerwal said the rate of coverage was getting close to the “magical number” needed for herd immunity and urged parents to speak

with their doctors about any concerns they may have about vaccinations.

“Once I explain and address any concerns, they’re quite happy to go ahead with the vaccinations,” she said.

“It’s a matter of (guiding) parents through it instead of judging them.”

The best covered areas on the Gold Coast for one-yearolds include Robina (94.5%), Southport (94.1%) and Ormeau-Oxenford (94%).

For two-year-olds, Southport (92.6%), Nerang (91.9) and Ormeau-Oxenford (91.8%) had the highest immunisation rates, while fiveyear-olds were best covered in Ormeau-Oxenford (93.4%), Nerang (92.9%) and Broadbeach-Burleigh (92.6%).

Gold Coast Health run a number of family-friendly clinics across the area to increase accessibility. They are held at Helensvale, Carrara, Burleigh, Upper Coomera, Southport and Robina.

In May and June, Gold Coast Health ran a number of clinics on the weekend to help improve accessability to the service.

BULLETIN’S VIEW, P18