As many as a quarter of Australian babies aren’t getting vaccinated on time, leaving them at risk of developing life-threatening illnesses such as whooping cough when they are most vulnerable.
According to a new study led by Perth’s The Kids Research Institute Australia, many babies are having their 6 month vaccinations late, allowing a window of time where they do not have maximum protection from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Published in Vaccine, the study examined linked information from the pregnancy and birth records of 1.9 million children born in WA and NSW to the number of babies who received their 2, 4 and 6 month vaccinations as per the age recommendations on the National Immunisation Schedule.
Epidemiologist Dr Hannah Moore, from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute Australia, said these data collected from 1996 to 2012 have helped identify groups of children who are most at risk due to delayed vaccinations.
“Linking these data for the very first time meant we could look at each child’s immunisation coverage in relation to a range of demographics including geographic location, parent’s age and nationality, smoking during pregnancy and number of siblings,” said Dr Moore.
“We were able to detect key groups where only 50 to 60 percent of babies received their vaccinations on time, such as children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, babies from socio-economically disadvantaged areas and those born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
“Number of existing children in the family was also a clear stand-out – third or fourth-born children had far lower vaccine coverage than their first-born older siblings.
“Data showed around 90 per cent of babies ‘caught up’ with their routine vaccinations by 12 months of age, but parents need to know that their children aren’t fully protected until they receive all three doses and having these vaccines on time is extremely important,” said Dr Moore.
Director of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Dr Tom Snelling, said that this study plays an important role in pin-pointing the key groups that would benefit from targeted programs encouraging timely vaccinations.
“This information can help us investigate and recommend the most successful system for reminding parents to vaccinate their children on time, such as SMS reminders or a recall notification,” said Professor Snelling.
For more information on the work of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, please visit infectiousdiseases.telethonkids.org.au.
The paper detailing the study, Assessment of on-time vaccination coverage in population subgroups: a record linkage cohort study, was published on 01 June.