Children immunisation

[Gaskit]

Hello,

 

We are moving to Melbourne in June on a 457 Visa. My daughter will be just over 3 years old then and she will be due her MMR booster. Will she get it automatically once we have register for Medicare? Is it free?

Thanks for any clarifications you can give ....:wubclub:

 

Adeline

[Glad I Moved]

Hi Adeline,

 

MMR is usually given at 4yrs of age but there will be a number of jabs that are given in Oz (like Hep B) that aren't on the UK radar.

 

Check this link to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register for a rundown of all vaccines and the dates that they will be given...

 

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/acir/schedule.jsp

 

If your child needs to have them, then they'll be brought up to date with the rest of the population via medicare - usually before they start school.

[scmercer]

Hi

 

My son has just turned four and has just had the MMR. They are usually free (it does depend on your doctor) I have been charged for some and others have been free. You would probably need to get the extra immunisations for your daughter, as the previous poster mentioned, check the immunisation list as there are certainly a few more here. They are quite strict and can stop your centrelink payments if you are not up to date with all immunisations. Both my children had chicken pox before we arrived in Oz and they still had to have the immunisation!

 

Once you register for medicare you can fill out the immunisation form with your doctor and they should advise you what jabs your daughter will need.

[fish.01]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_schedule#Australia

[Gaskit]

Thank you all for your useful answers - looks like the ages at which they are getting the boosters are quite different between UK and Australia.

Scmercer, that's a bit extreme about the chicken pox!

Anyway sounds like I just need to check with the doctor when I'm there.

Thanks again,

 

Adeline

[Glad I Moved]

No worries.

 

You may also find that Dr will suggest that any adult memebers of the family have a few jabs as well. For example, there is a push to ensure that everyone in Oz will grow up innoculated against Hep B.

 

Depending on where you're going to settle, having Hep B is a very good idea if there is any probability that you may be affected by floods as there will be all sorts of nasties floating about in the water...

[Gaskit]

Hi,

 

We are moving to Melbourne so hopefully not one of the higher risk area in term of flooding but we'll see what the doctors suggest.

Sounds like my daughter is going to see a few needles when there - not sure she will be pleased with that !!

Thanks again for all your help.

[winkle100]

Hi,

 

We are moving to Melbourne so hopefully not one of the higher risk area in term of flooding but we'll see what the doctors suggest.

Sounds like my daughter is going to see a few needles when there - not sure she will be pleased with that !!

Thanks again for all your help.

 

My boys 4 and nearly 2 haven't had any jabs were a little reluctant for them to have the MMR due to all the bad press it's had.

 

Do they have to have all the jabs to go to school? Can the MMR be broken down in to separate jabs as surely they don't need all if them!

 

Thanks

[_shel]

My boys 4 and nearly 2 haven't had any jabs were a little reluctant for them to have the MMR due to all the bad press it's had.

 

Do they have to have all the jabs to go to school? Can the MMR be broken down in to separate jabs as surely they don't need all if them!

 

Thanks

 

 

They do you need your redbook up to date. You can also have your centrelink payments, similar to tax credits and help with childcare, rent etc stopped if not done.

 

As far as I know nowhere will do them as separate jabs, besides that 'theory' has been proved and admitted as nonsense. Why would they not need all three?

[Guest ezzybee]

Im here on a 457 visa and you dont get centre link benefit so dont worry about the payments stopping as you wont get any!

 

Just pop to a daughter when you arrive and they will be able to advise you with all the jabs etc they need. My daughter is 4 and thats what I did!

 

Good luck with the move

[Guest PocketMamma]

I was just looking at the vaccine schedule and wondered if anyone knew why Hep B was on there? Wouldn't it be extremely low-risk given it's tranmitted thru blood or sexual intercourse?

 

I can understand why the vaccine would be available for high-risk adults - but babies????

[Glad I Moved]

As I said in an earlier post, it's something that Australia's health care people want everyone vaccinated against from childhood.

 

Given that;

 

1. Australia is very close to Asia where there have been Hep B epidemics

2. Hep B is endemic in China and

3. There are many thousands of Chinese students, migrants and visitors arriving in Australia each year, I suppose it makes sense that there are some preventative measures taken rather than waiting until something goes badly wrong and there is an outbreak in Australia.

 

Many apologies if this sounds like racial sterotyping but those are the facts as I understand them.

 

It's too late to get every Australian adult but if they add the vaccine to the childhood immunisation schedule it protects future generations.

[Guest PocketMamma]

Thanks GladIMoved - sorry to berate the point - but I've read that vaccines are generally only effective for around 15 years at which point immunity decreases. So once vaccinated babies reach puberty/become sexually active they're not necessarily protected anyway. Have very limited knowledge about how vaccines work so may well have it all wrong :-).

[Glad I Moved]

Again - I don't really know.

 

What I do know is that as an adult, Hep B is a three part course of jabs at zero, one and six month intervals. I know this because my third one is on 3 August

 

As far as I'm aware, this gives lifetime protection.

 

Maybe childhood immunisation means that this gives such lifetime protection or possibly a one-off booster is required in adolescence rather than having to do teh full course again.

 

If I find out more, I'll post something up.

 

EDIT: Here's a link to all you need to know about Hep B!

[newjez]

My boys 4 and nearly 2 haven't had any jabs were a little reluctant for them to have the MMR due to all the bad press it's had.

 

Do they have to have all the jabs to go to school? Can the MMR be broken down in to separate jabs as surely they don't need all if them!

 

Thanks

 

You probably could break them down to separate jabs if you were prepared to pay - but then you would be subjecting your children to medicines that have not been used on the wider population, and would therefore be more risky.

 

The problems with the MMR have all been discredited. There is no risk. However, by choosing to not immunise your children, you are putting young babies, the elderly and cancer patients at risk of death. Have you thought about this?

 

Sorry to be blunt, but you would have to live with yourself if you were responsible for killing someone's baby.

[northernbird]

My boys 4 and nearly 2 haven't had any jabs were a little reluctant for them to have the MMR due to all the bad press it's had.

 

Do they have to have all the jabs to go to school? Can the MMR be broken down in to separate jabs as surely they don't need all if them!

 

Thanks

 

You will be allowed to enrol in school but your children will be excluded if there is an outbreak of a disease you are not immunised against.