Immunisation clinics will be opened in Wyndham and Hobsons Bay in an effort to boost vaccination rates among four-year-olds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
South Western Melbourne Medicare Local will run the nurse immunisation clinics thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Grants were awarded to seven organisations across the country that are striving to boost immunisation rates in their communities.
Latest statistics from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register show that in June this year, the immunisation rate in Wyndham for children aged 12-15 months was below the state average.
A total of 89 per cent of 12-15- month olds were immunised, compared to 91 per cent across
the state.
South Western Melbourne Medicare Local’s acting chief executive, Linda Kensington, said the grant would help promote the benefits of childhood vaccinations.
“The nurse immunisation clinics will more effectively utilise practice nurse and GP time, allowing more patients to be seen, vaccines to be administered safely and providing better education and health promotion initiatives,” she said.
Ms Kensington said some parents were reluctant to vaccinate their children, believing immunisations would harm them, while others were busy and forgot immunisation dates.
She said migrant families were often unfamiliar with the Australian system and had a lack of health literacy, preventing them from properly vaccinating their children.
