Jab message fails to register

LANGUAGE barriers are being blamed for holding back immunisation rates in the City of Greater Dandenong.
Department of Health figures show the city’s coverage for hepatitis B is at 66 per cent and human papillomavirus (HPV) is at 60 per cent – well below the 75 and 71 per cent state averages.
But diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough coverage is at 74 per cent – only 1 per cent below the Victorian average.
The chickenpox vaccine coverage is at 64 per cent in Greater Dandenong and 69 per cent across Victoria.
Figures show that 89 per cent of five-year-old children are fully vaccinated in Greater Dandenong, just behind the 92.88 per cent state average.
City of Greater Dandenong planning, design and amenity director Jody Bosman said most of these rates were up from the previous year.
“To keep our community free from preventable diseases, it is important to achieve a high rate of immunisation coverage in the community,” he said.
But Mr Bosman said the council faced significant challenges to achieve this, with language barriers the most significant.
“With the higher-than-average numbers of non-English speaking parents at many of our schools, it can be difficult for them to understand the consent cards that need to be completed so that they are providing informed consent for their child to be immunised,” he said.
He said the council’s immunisation team had worked with schools over the past year to address this.
New initiatives include consent cards in different languages, information sessions at parent evenings at schools, and interpreters to help provide immunisation education for students and teachers.
“Council is also working closely with the Department of Health Southern Region to develop a project aimed at understanding the needs of these communities, and then putting strategies in place to address those needs,” Mr Bosman said.
The project will begin later this year.
He said another challenge was the HPV program, which required three separate doses over a significant period.
“Each dose requires parental approval, so there is a considerable amount of follow-up work required at each of the approximately 30 schools, covering several thousand students,” he said.
Mr Bosman said rates should continue to improve as further new initiatives were developed and implemented to meet the diverse community’s needs.
He encouraged parents and students who needed further advice about immunisation to contact the council’s immunisation team on 9239 5100.
A free interpreter service is available to assist those inquiries.