I wonder what scientific evidence the Australian, US and UK governments have for this. I bet that none of them have ever published their reasons.

They give the catch up hep b in grade 8 when the child will only require 2 doses .This is the same for aussie kids also as the programme was only introduced in 2000.
If your 14 year old has missed out the Vaccine costs about $25 a jab for Hep b.
Thanks Sharron (Kevins wife)

I did google it when my daughter was going through the catch up program and I found a government document that re-tested the kids and found that the jabs were working from the UK. Can't remember where. Think it was a document from state of vic. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thanks Poppet

The thing is, the timings of jabs are based on the body's immune system. There are different little components (proteins) of this system....little proteins that "kick in" at different times before/at/after birth and also at/after exposure to the disease/vaccination (ie days/weeks/months). People in the Oz are the same as elsewhere - ie we are all people - so I am wondering why one country is doing it at a different time to another. ie I am suspecting that there is an additional government/public health agenda.

(A different example is the 6 week baby check. It could be done at 5 weeks or 7 weeks etc, but 6 weeks is best to check out the mum. Mum thinks that she's there for the baby. The doc is also checking the mum out 6 weeks is an important time for the mum post-natally )

Just found this thread, we are hoping to go to OZ in July/August. We have 2 girls aged 13 (when we get there) and 2. What jabs would they need over there? Eldest has been in contact with chickenpox 4 times and never seemed to have got it. I was told she could have only 1 spot internally/externally and we might not now she had it. I didn't get it until I was 11 even though my brother and 4 cousins had it 5 years earlier. Would she still need the jab?. Should I see my GP here and get things done early if needed (if he will do it) or wait until we move and follow the Australian system?

Just as a heads up for anyone who would avoid certain vaccinations over here due to concientious objections. If your children are in after school care etc and you get the centrelink rebate on this then this will be withdrawn if your children are found to be not fully vaccinated. We had a lot of hassle with my youngest when the drs forgot to let us know that the hepB injection has a third component and we got a nasty letter from centrelink saying that they were withdrawing her rebate unless she was given the final vaccination (this wasnt a problem as it was missed due to a dr cock up rather than us not wanting her to have it).
There is no leeway on this if the immunisation register reports that your child's imunisations are not up to date the benefit is withdrawn. Although the vaccinations are not compulsary things like this show that in reality they are for many people as you have to be able to afford to stand by your principles. I am sure that there is an allowance for those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons so please do not panic if that is the case with your kids.
Nicky
Oh and my lot got chickenpox in the UK and again over here as apparently it was a slight variation on the virus (chook pox). They have not had the vaccination over here but the dr wasn't sure that it would have helped anyway in their case it was just one of those things as there was a particularly nasty strain going around the school and kids with and without the vaccination were getting it.

Centrelink cannot legally withhold benefits because your child is unvaccinated. Childcare/After School Care centres can refuse to take your child if unvaccinated, but that is because they are private institutions and they can make their own rules. If a conscientious Objection form is completed and signed by a doctor, and lodged with Centrelink, no benefits can be withheld/withdrawn.
See http://www.vaclib.org/exempt/australia.htm - it clearly states:

"Vaccination is NOT compulsory in Australia.
Your school, in some states, may ask you to provide an "immunisation certificate" for your child's school, which certificate could include a statutory declaration that you are a conscientious objector. The ONLY time an exemption form is required is in relation to seeking the full government childcare and maternity allowances. You only receive them if you:-
a) provide records that show your child has received all the vaccines to the age of 18 mths OR
b) submit a conscientious objection form (which can be picked up from Medicare or Centrelink offices.). This form has to be signed by a GP to verify that he/she has 'counselled' you on the risks of not vaccinating."

If you haven't seen the form, this is a link: http://web.archive.org/web/200603080...ction_form.pdf

r8P

Thanks for that I hope that it is of use to anyone who feels that they don't want to vaccinate their child. It is worth knowing the ins and outs as the letter that I received clearly stated that unless our child was registered with the immunisation register as either fully vaccinated or having a waiver due to medical concerns then we would not receive child care payments. The family tax benefit would continue as normal but the rebate that we receive for after school care etc would be terminated. Personally it didn't effect us beyond me being annoyed by thir attitude as the lack of vaccination was due to a dr screw up so Maggie was brought up to date with her jabs and everything continued OK. When I phoned there was no room for discussion though either she is registered on the system as up to date or the payments stop. I would suggest that anyone wanting to go down the road of objecting for a non medical reason should speak to the immunisation register directly rather than centrelink as they were far more helpful to us.
At the end of the day child care rebates are tied to the immunisation register so it is worth being aware of that when you are considering whether or not to vaccinate your child. You cannot just decide that you will get it done further down the line it has to all be done officially or else you will lose out financially. Now that I am working it is less of a problem because the rebate is now at the bare minimum and really makes very little difference to our payments but at the time we were receiving a 30% rebate per child which is a big difference.
Nicky

If it's just as easy, you could get the blood test done now to see if she has antibodies to varicella zoster virus. If not, you can get the VZV vaccine there or here. If it's free there, may as well get it done there.

Couldn't agree more about the 6 week thing. I think 6 weeks is where you start to hit the wall and are very vulnerable. I've been saying to all my friends since I had my two little ones "Don't worry about the help in the first few weeks ask for the help around 6 weeks". Last friend replied, it should be alright for me I've got my mum over for a month after the birth etc. Funny that at 6 weeks she was really struggling all the same. Also the around 4-6 weeks babies become more alert so settling for naps and bedtime can be harder work (sleep cycles become more obvious) She had so much time on her hands that she had tended to every cry in a split second then wondered what had happened to get into feeding every 3 seconds. She was so exhausted and we were very worried about her emotionally to. So much for help in the early days hey.

I thought the kids had been tested over hear and they found that some vacinations weren't getting so good coverage because the immune system was to immature to reap the benefits.

The World Health Organisation provides quite comprehensive information re immunisations. Here's a link that might address some of the questions posed:

http://www.who.int/topics/immunization/en/index.html

Cheers

Ginny

I have a real hang up about vaccinations.

I am a reasonably educated mother of 4 children, the eldest having autism. I haven't given any of my children the MMR, but got the 3 eldest kids the single measles vaccine, which of course I had to pay £60 each child.

My eldest child was born in 2000 and since my youngest was born in late 2006 there were four more injections added to the list. Why?

I survived OK without MMR, OK had rubella at 13 which carried me through all pregnancies,and all 4 kids have had chickenpox.

We don't live in the 3rd world, we don't need these mercury filled substances, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd injections at 8, 12 and 16 weeks is OK by me, I don't honestly think I will get my baby a single measles vaccine, because apparently now 'they' are mixed with mercury.

Lynne

You can get a non-mercury version.

Rubella is generally fairly mild in children and adults. The main concern is to unborn babies where the effect is devastating. So I'm not surprised you were fine. I don't believe that is a reason to not vaccinate though.

I'm really not out for a debate but in my opinion the effects of the disease far outweigh any risks of vaccinating. My only exception might be chicken pox because I don't think that's as big a deal. But I truly haven't done the research on that one yet.

We may not live in the 3rd world but the world has become a very small place with airline travel the way it is. It would be very simple for someone to travel to a developed country while they appear to be healthy. With more people chosing not to vaccinate the risk gets greater that small outbreaks might occur. And it does happen. While I was pregnant with my second I discovered that I wasn't protected against rubella (despite being vaccinated when I was young). I did some research and discovered that although rare outbreaks do occur in developed countries.

That's I'll I'm going to say on the matter. If you've done the research and are happy with your decisions then that's great. I just think more and more people are deciding not to vaccinate without really looking into it.

Very wise words. I find it astonishing that people actually choose not to have their children immunised against potentially fatal diseases.

I actually used to work with a lady who had 3 kids and she was very vocal in her opposition to vaccinations. She was convinced that vaccination posed an unacceptable risk to her children, completely ignoring the benefits. When I pressed her on the evidence for her position and why she had come to think this way, it turned out that womens magazines and daytime tv were her source of info. Very worrying.