Despite recent politics around vaccinations, new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the people of the Hunter New England Health District are among the best "vaxxers" in the country.
The Immunisation report for 2015-16 crowns Hunter New England with the third highest rates of fully immunised children aged 5 years at 95.4 percent compared to the national average of 92.9 percent.
Hunter New England Health physician Dr David Durrheim said, "the anti-vaxxer" movement has had no impact on immunisation results locally or nationally.
"Across Hunter New England we have seen a sustained appreciation of the value of vaccinations offers in protecting children and we are not seeing parents moving away from vaccinations at all," Dr Durrheim said.
The report's results show 94.9 percent of 12-month-old children are fully vaccinated whilst only 92.3 percent of 2-year-old children are fully vaccinated.
Dr Durrheim attributes this to parents simply forgetting to immunise or being late to get their children immunised.
"We found that during the second year of life there are other vaccines that are also offered, and generally it is an issue, not that parents do not want their children to be vaccinated, but it is actually about getting their children vaccinated on time.
"The 5-year coverage figures are equally pleasing and that shows again that parents do want their kids protected but, sometimes the difficulties of young family life mean that vaccines are delayed, and that is not something we encourage as children are at their most vulnerable when they are young," Dr Durrheim said.
The Hunter New England Health District also ranked second in the country for Aboriginal Childhood immunisation at 12-months, which Dr Durrheim said highlights the network's efforts in closing the gap in coverage of Aboriginal Childhood immunisation.
"The Hunter New England Health District have been working with Aboriginal medical services, General Practitioners across the region and community health services.
"We contact Aboriginal mums and dads within the first few weeks of the birth of their little one by telephone and then provide an SMS service as reminders.
"So, we are pleased that initiative is paying off," Dr Durrheim said.
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| Dr David Durrheim |
