Dear Families,
Following changes to the South Australian Public Health Act 2011 (the Act), from 7 August 2020, children will not be able to enrol in or attend early childhood services unless all immunisation requirements are met.
What has changed?
The Act states:
- an early childhood service must not enrol a child if all immunisation requirements are not met
- a child cannot attend, or continue to attend, an early childhood service if all immunisation requirements are not met
- early childhood services must keep a current copy of an approved immunisation record for each child enrolled in, or attending that service, and
- approved immunisation records must be supplied by parents/guardians to the early childhood service at specified times.
What does ‘all immunisation requirements’ refer to?
The National Immunisation Program (NIP) provides funded vaccines at specific ages to babies, toddlers, teenagers and adults who have a Medicare card.
The NIP – South Australian Schedule tells you at what age certain vaccines must be administered to your child. These are called schedule points.
Vaccines must be administered on or close to the specific schedule points for your child to be considered up to date with their immunisations; usually a few days before or a few weeks after is acceptable.
Vaccines that are administered under the NIP are recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). If your child has not received all of their scheduled vaccines at the specific schedule points or as per a recognised catch-up schedule, the AIR records your child as being ‘not up to date’.
When do approved immunisation records need to be supplied?
A current approved immunisation record needs to be supplied:
- at the time of enrolment;
- after your child turns 7 months of age but before they turn 9 months of age;
- after your child turns 13 months of age but before they turn 15 months of age;
- after your child turns 19 months of age but before they turn 21 months of age;
- after your child turns 4 years and 2 months of age but before they turn 4 years and 8 months of age.
Records must be provided at these times to show your child is up to date with all immunisations and the immunisations have been provided at the correct schedule points.
If your child enrols in or attends our in between these specific times the record must be extracted no greater than one month before enrolment or attendance.
Please click here to read the Parents and Carers Frequently Asked Questions to find out more information.
