Why Vaccinate?

Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives.

Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in Australia; including polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, rubella, mumps, tetanus & Haemophilus influenzae type b.

Before widespread vaccination:

• Polio would paralyse about 1 in 1,000 children and more in adults. Of those hospitalised, 1 in 20 died. The infection rate in households with susceptible children can reach 100%.
• Rubella (“German measles”) would cause birth defects (deafness, blindness or heart abnormalities) and mental retardation in newborns; 9 in 10 babies infected during the first 10 weeks after conception will have a major abnormality. There were over 3,000 cases of rubella reported yearly between 1992 and 1995, but vaccination meant that by 2004/2005 there were only 31 confirmed cases per year in Australia.
• Measles would infect most children, 1 in 15 would develop pneumonia and 1 in 1,000 would suffer from encephalitis. 10% of encephalitis cases died and 40% were left with permanent brain damage.
• Diphtheria was a common cause of death in school-aged children with 1 in 15 perishing.
• A bacterium called Hib would cause meningitis in more than 1 in 500 children; 5% of these children would die and 25% were left with permanent brain or nerve damage.
• Pertussis would kill 1 in 200 cases in children less than 6 months of age, due to pneumonia or brain damage.

Now, Australia has low rates of vaccine-preventable diseases. Some people question whether we still need vaccines.

Vaccines should be given for three reasons:

1. some diseases are still so common (pertussis or whooping cough) that a choice not to get vaccinated is a choice to risk disease
2. some diseases continue to infect small numbers of children and adolescents (measles, mumps, German measles and Hib) so a drop in immunisation levels would allow new outbreaks of the disease
3. some diseases have been virtually eliminated from Australia (polio, diphtheria) but are still prevalent in other parts of the world and could be imported by travellers

(Source: P.A. Offit M.D, L.M.Bell, M.D, Vaccines What You Should Know, Wiley, 2003)

A Chain of Protection

Vaccines give community protection. Immunising individual children also helps to protect the health of everyone around you, especially those who cannot be immunised (those who are too young to be vaccinated, those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and those who cannot make an adequate response to vaccination). Immunisation reduces the number of people who contract disease or become carriers and therefore potential opportunities for exposure to the disease. Some infections like whooping cough, varicella and measles are so very highly infectious or transmissible that we need at least 95% of the population to be immune to prevent infections passing between people. That is why there are still some outbreaks of whooping cough.

Regional differences in Australian Vaccination Rates

Vaccination is not compulsory in Australia. Whilst the average rate for childhood immunisation across the country is over 90%, many communities fall well below this average, thus increasing the risk of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases in these communities in families and friends.

In an effort to provide awareness and reminders for families to schedule booster vaccinations with their local GP, the national immunisation register has been established in association with your local GP. Visit their website for an up to date list of booster shots required for your family www.immunisationregister.gov.au

The Importance of Childhood Vaccines

It is true that newborn babies are immune to many diseases because they receive antibodies from their mothers. However, the duration of this immunity may last anywhere from a month to about a year, dependent upon the immunity of the mother. Further, many young children do not receive antibodies from their mother against some vaccine preventable diseases, such as whooping cough.

If a child is not vaccinated and is exposed to a disease-causing germ, the child’s body may not be strong enough to fight the disease.

No amount of healthy living and diet is enough to fight Australia’s deadliest vaccine preventable diseases that exist today, such as pneumococcal and meningococcal disease.

The Importance of Teenage and Adult Boosters

Many adults and teenagers wrongly assume that the vaccines that they got as children were all that they needed for the rest of their lives.

Teenagers should receive three vaccine boosters:

• Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine (if they haven’t had the disease)
• Hepatitis B vaccine
• Diphtheria Tetanus and Pertussis (dTpa) vaccine