{"id":8331,"date":"2018-03-28T07:36:41","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T07:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/?p=8331"},"modified":"2018-04-02T04:47:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T04:47:54","slug":"local-child-immunisations-surpass-national-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/living\/local-child-immunisations-surpass-national-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Local child immunisations surpass national target"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMMUNISATION rates for five-year-old children in the Geelong region have increased again over the past 12 months and remain above the national average.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest figures were released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).<\/p>\n

In western Victoria – which covers everywhere from Geelong to the South Australian border and as far north as St Arnaud and Hopetoun – 95.5 per cent of five-year olds were fully immunised in 2016-7. This is above the national target of 95 per cent and the actual national rate of 93.5 per cent, which western Victoria hit in 2014\/15 (when the national rate was 1.3 per cent lower).<\/p>\n

The data shows variation across Australia\u2019s 31 Primary Health Networks (PHN) – locally, this region is covered by the Western Victoria PHN.<\/p>\n

The proportion of fully immunised five-year-olds was highest in Western NSW at 96.0 per cent, while North Coast (NSW) and Perth North have the lowest rates at 90.6 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the majority of Australian children being immunised, it\u2019s important that we don\u2019t become complacent. We need to maintain high immunisation rates to protect the vulnerable groups in our community,\u201d AIHW spokesperson Tracy Dixon said.<\/p>\n

However, in other categories of health status and outcomes, western Victorian adults are behind the national average, with:<\/p>\n