Child Immunisation certificates
 

Hi,

My 3 daughters (age 8,9 and 11) will be starting school in Melbourne(Berwick) in November. I am aware of the need for an immunisation certificate but as we do not have these in England I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the school requested from them. I am loathe to pay out yet more money for a letter from the doctors here stating that they have had all their injections. The girls "red books" state the dates that they had their injections, do you think that would be evidence enough.

Your advice much appreciated.

Have just got back from 2 weeks in Melbourne and I really loved Berwick, good job too coz I'd already made my mind up to live there before I even visited!!

Tracy

PS. Anyone out there from the Berwick area (have been intouch with some of the regulars on this site but wondering if there were anymore POMS in the area.)

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Is it private school, Tracy? You do not have to prove immunisation status for state schooling as vaccination is not compulsory in Oz.

Sue

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Hi Sue,

Thanks for your reply.
It is state school, I was under the impression that you had to provide proof as it says something to that effect on the enrolment forms that are on the schools website. Having said that no one has yet asked for them, and their enrolment has been confirmed, so maybe i'll just not mention it.Hope I don't get a surprise on their first day.

Tracy

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

If the school has a website it might say something there about vaccination policy. I know the school we are hoping to send our dd to in WA has a statement of policy. Our dd is unvaccinated so we checked to see what their policy is and it states quite clearly that unvaccinated children are accepted.

If not, I would have thought that the red books would be entirely adequate - they are signed when the vaccinations are given, aren't they?

BWs,

Sue

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Hi

My mum is here from Melbourne, she tells me that it is now compulsory in Victoria.

This may not have spread to other states. (this link may help) http://www.health.vic.gov.au/immunis...s/schentry.pdf

Schooling is totally state based in Australia, so there can be wildly different rules in Victoria to NSW and every other state.

That said, I cannot see why your red book should not be sufficient, it is all I have and when I went out to Aus (just a brief trip), my GP there was happy with this and entered the information for my daughter (An Aussie citizen) onto the register.

Good luck

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Great link - it proves that it is not compulsory to have an immunisation, just to have a certificate.....see the questions page. ;)

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Interesting as my son is starting kinder here in Victoria in January and has to be up to date with his vaccinations. I can re-iterate what one of the previous posters said....whether or not it is compulsary....take your red books along to whatever doctor you sign up with and they can get the children onto the register. We did this with my eldest and it only took a couple of weeks to get the certificate. Maybe only a week. If the school do require some evidence then the red book should be enough until the certificate come through because here they have 'yellow books' which are practically identical in every way. Why not drop an email to your school of choice and ask them?

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

I took my kids red books into the local council offices when we moved here and they photocopied the relevant pages and I filled in an application form for the Immunisation Cert. They posted it out a few days later. We were told the kids could not start school until they had copies of their immunisation certs.

Mel

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Getting worried .... can someone please explain what these red books are.....
we don't (or at least I don't) have this system up here?
Thanks
BB :confused: :confused:

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

The red books are the child health records that you get given by the Health Visitor (in UK) when baby gets first visit. They may be different colours now. They contain pages where you can keep record of all the childhood milestones, visits to doctor, immunisations, weight and height charts etc.

Mel

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Hello

The 'red book' we all keep going on about is a 'Personal Child Health Record'. We (well us down in Kent anyway) got it at the birth of the child from the NHS. It details all their health checks, immunisations, growth charts, personal choices for health care etc.

When my daughter was immunised the Nurse filled in the details and signet the book. This is what I presented as evidence of immunisation.

Hope this helps

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

We copied Jacks immunisation page from his 'red book' with no problems.
Annie

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

hi guys,
we arrived in melbourne in march of this year, my 2 daughters didnt have the red books to proove what jabs they had, so i went to my gp, they printed off what jabs they had , the dates they had them. the school was fine with that!
i have also got three kids and we live about 10 mins away from berwick, my girls are 11 and 9 and ive got a 3 year old son too!
good luck with the move guys,

louise

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

Without wishing to be too argumentative, it is only compulsory to present an immunisation certificate if your child is actually immunised. If not, you obtain a conscientious objection form (or medical exemption if this is the case) from the doctor and they then issue a certificate to meet school entry requirements.

Sue

Re: Child Immunisation certificates
 

My hubby has just read this and said I must be a bad mother, for not maintaining the book...I do remember a little book now, but didn't realise its importance, and was never asked for it at any of son's jabs....I'll go to the docs on Monday and get them to print off what he's had so far....thanks for all of the replies and info. received..

BB :)