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| Disease | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rubella | 3747 | 3623 | 411 |
| Measles | 1400 | 4339 | 830 |
| Pertussis | 725 | 3826 | 1210 |
| Hib | 501 | 393 | 44 |
| Diphtheria | no data | no data | 5 |
| Tetanus | no data | no data | 2 |
The Australian Medical Association and the Australian College of Paediatricians have claimed that whooping cough and measles killed 457 Australian children between 1980 and 1990.(3)
A survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics published in 1992 deals with the coverage of immunisation for children aged between 0 and 6 in 1989-90. Findings of the survey include:
A number of reasons have been suggested for the above figures, including:
Failure to implement universal immunisation can cause diseases that were thought to have been eradicated from a region to reoccur. An article in the Medical Journal of Australia reports two such cases. The first related to the reintroduction of paralytic poliomyelitis. It is reported that twice within 15 years a religious group in Holland that refused immunisation were responsible for outbreaks of the disease in that country and that the disease was also spread to the United States and Canada on both occasions by visiting members of the group. At the time of the visits poliomyelitis was considered to have been eradicated in the latter countries. The article also reports that following adverse publicity regarding the effects of whooping cough vaccine in the 1970s, which were later proved to be incorrect, the rate of vaccination in the U.K. fell from approximately 80% to 40% and that there were two subsequent outbreaks of the disease (1977-79 and 1981-82) in which more than 100 000 cases of the disease were reported and 27 people died.(6) It was announced in the 1995-96 Budget that funds would be allocated to establish ACIR which would monitor immunisation coverage and provide a central register to enable parents to determine the immunisation status of their child regardless of where the immunisation service was provided. ACIR commenced operation on 1 January 1996. According to the second reading speech for the Bill, approximately 450 000 immunisations had been registered by 1 April 1996.
ACIR was originally funded for two years, after which the scheme would be evaluated to determine whether it should be continued. This included funding for preparatory work on the scheme during the period 1 July 1995 until its commencement on 1 January 1996 so that funding for the ACIR would end after 18 months of its operation on 30 June 1997. In the second reading speech to the Bill the Minister states that:
Under this government funding for the Register will be continued beyond this 18 month period.
The explanatory memorandum to the Bill provides a financial impact statement which states that ACIR will cost $3.18 million in 1995-96 and $3.30 million for 1996-97. There is no estimate of costs beyond 1 July 1997.
ACIR is currently established under regulations made under the Principal Act. However, those regulations do not provide for information sharing, which prevents ACIR being used to share information with those who provide immunisation services and State/Territory immunisation bodies. This also prevents 'reminder notices' being sent to those on ACIR when their next immunisation is due.
Item 1 of Schedule 1 of the Bill will insert a new Part IVA into the Principal Act that deals with the ACIR.
Proposed section 46B deals with the Health Insurance Commission's (HIC) responsibilities in respect of ACIR. HIC is to:
The information that may be provided from ACIR is dealt with in proposed section 46E which allows the Managing Director of HIC to:
Item 2 will save the ACIR kept under regulation 3 of the HIC regulations and provide that it is to be taken to have been kept under proposed Part IVA (NB. Regulation 375 of 1995 provides for ACIR to be kept under regulation 3Q rather than regulation 3 as referred to in the Bill).
Section 130 of the Principal Act contains a number of provisions to make it an offence for officers of the HIC to disclose information received due to their duties except in restricted circumstances. Item 3 of the Bill will amend section 130 to extend restrictions to those who receive information under proposed section 46E. Such information may only be used for the purposes for which it was provided, and is not to divulged to another unless necessary for the performance of that person's functions as a provider of immunisation. The information may also be divulged by an officer of an authority or department to which it has been provided under proposed section 46E for the performance of their duties in relation to immunisation.
(1) NHMRC, National Immunisation Strategy, April 1993, p. vii.
(2) Department of Human Services and Health, Childhood Immunisation, August 1994, p. 4 (this work provides a review of the literature on immunisation in Australia).
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid., p. 5.
(5) Ibid.
(6) The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol 160 , 18 April 1994, pp. 459 & 460.
Chris Field Ph. 06 277 2439
29 May 1996
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Research Service
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ISSN 1323-9032
© Commonwealth of Australia 1996
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Last updated: 4 June 1996
