eight_col_vaccination — WA joins other states in eliminating choice. Photo: Radio NZ

The WA government will give the Health Department powers to ban unvaccinated children from attending school and child care centres as part of ‘No Jab, No Play’ measures expected to take effect in July 2019.

Under the new laws, kindergartens, schools and child care centres will be required to keep up-to-date immunisation records, and the department’s “chief health officer” will have power to “order under-vaccinated children to stay home”.

NEW MEASURES

The new regulations, first revealed under a consultation draft of an amendment to the Public Health Act 2016, will form the first phase of an adopted ‘No Jab, No Play’ policy that will be introduced to parliament in the new year.

According to reports, the powers, which extend from public to private schools, will force child providers to submit reports to the “Chief Health Officer” that detail current immunisation statuses of all enrolled children:

Providers can face fines of up to $1,000 for non-compliance with the policy, and government also plans to introduce measures that would give them the power to stop children from enrolling in child care centres and kindergarten at all:

This first phase of the measures are expected to come into full effect in July 2019 for children entering childcare, and 2020 for children starting kindergarten, if the bill passed through Parliament.

Screenshot (179) Kylie Catto, WA Council of State School Organisations President, said her focus was on “ensuring parents were being given vital information on vaccination policies” and “the rationale for these policies as a matter of public and individual health”.

The ‘Light for Riley’ organisation, who have historically opposed medical freedom of choice, also spoke on the decision by the WA government to join the growing coercive policy:

“In an ideal world, education would simply be all we needed to convince people to make the right to decision to vaccinate their children.

But in a world where anti-vaccination sentiment is on the rise and where vaccination disinformation flourishes online, sometimes strong policy is needed.“

The moves follow similar regulations introduced by a number of states here in Australia, following an initial campaign launched by Rupert Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

‘NO JAB, NO PLAY’

Since January, unvaccinated children have now been banned from enrolling in pre-schools in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, as the policy starts having a “practical effect”.

South Australia also has plans to introduce measures, although no announcements have been made.

Children already must be fully vaccinated for parents to be eligible to receive Commonwealth family assistance payments, a measure that was announced by Kevin Rudd in 2013.

The radical new policy was introduced for the first time in 2013, despite growing evidence to suggest that herd immunity is a myth and each dose from a vaccine schedule is subjective to the individual.

Furthermore, clinically proven alternatives continue to be suppressed from the public, and concerns of chemicals being injected into the human body, such as mercury, are not being addressed.

The Australian government’s claims of safety and efficacy of vaccines are being underpinned by non-objective science provided by an oligarchy of pharmaceutical companies, through industry-funded institutions and lobby groups.

This concern, along with many others, has seen a strong pro-choice vaccine movement develop here in Australia over the last few years, who have already began campaigns in WA opposing the new announcement.

BACKLASH

Currently, WA has some of the lowest immunisation rates in the country, with just 89.1 per cent of two-year-olds vaccinated, compared to the required 95 per cent to ‘effectively prevent a disease outbreak’.

As a result of this, under these new proposals, pre-schools will face an uncertain future as the new vaccination rules threaten enrolments.

Some pre-schools in northern NSW, which has Australia’s lowest vaccination rates, have told the program 7.30 their enrolments are already significantly down as a result of the laws.

This is confirmed in the story by Pauline Hurcombe, Director of the Mount Warning Community Pre-School at Uki, who raised concerns with isolative measures:

“What are we doing with the kids that are missing out?

Where’s the policy for them?”

About half the children currently at the Mount Warning pre-school are unvaccinated and, although they can stay at the centre, their younger brothers and sisters will miss out.

Activists and pro-choice health advocates have expressed continued concerns that this policy and similar ones, such as the ‘No Jab, No Pay’ laws for financial assistance, are coercive in nature and direct both parents and providers to unwillingly comply with demands from state.

Listen as we spoke with pro-choice advocate Lissa Weckert on effects these laws can have on Australian society, including coercive tactics by health authorities: