Childhood Immunisation

Mr GEE (Napier) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Health. What is the importance of immunisation in the light of reports that the Adelaide City Council region has one of the worst vaccination rates in the nation?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:05): I would like to thank the member for Napier for a very important question. Last Friday, SA Health issued a public notice that a person had contracted measles locally, the third such measles case confirmed last week alone. At the time, our Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paddy Phillips, reminded the community that immunisation provides the best protection against measles. I am told that so far this year there have been eight confirmed measles cases, compared with four cases for all of 2015.

Given this increase in measles cases, I was alarmed by today's page 1 story in The Advertiser reporting the Adelaide City Council's poor childhood immunisation rates. As the article points out, by not having adequate vaccination rates our community is vulnerable to outbreaks of disease that would otherwise be completely preventable. Today, we live in a society where the horrors of smallpox are a distant memory and the last locally acquired case of polio was in 1972. These are some of the immeasurable advances of immunisation.

But these advances are not inevitable: they are the result of many decades of hard work and good public policy. That is why we must continue to work to improve vaccination rates. When levels of immunisation in the community are sufficiently high, the risk of specific diseases can fall so low that even those who are too young or too sick to be given a vaccine will not be exposed to it. This communal or herd immunity can save many lives. In the last few years, South Australia has seen great improvements in immunisation rates in regional areas, particularly among Aboriginal children. We have also made it easy to get the flu vaccination by allowing local pharmacists to deliver it.

The fact that today's report says that we have pockets of low childhood immunisation rates in our city where people have good access to vaccinations is, clearly, disappointing. Immunisation is one of the most important medical developments in history and has saved lives around the world. It is a simple and safe way to protect yourself and your children, and safeguard the health of future generations. That is why we can't allow complacency or tinfoil hat theories by some individuals to put the wider community at risk. So, I repeat the message of our Chief Medical Officer and remind people to get vaccinated to ensure that they and their loved ones are protected.