Local child immunisations surpass national target

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.

The latest figures were released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

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).

The data shows variation across Australia’s 31 Primary Health Networks (PHN) – locally, this region is covered by the Western Victoria PHN.

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.

“Despite the majority of Australian children being immunised, it’s important that we don’t become complacent. We need to maintain high immunisation rates to protect the vulnerable groups in our community,” AIHW spokesperson Tracy Dixon said.

However, in other categories of health status and outcomes, western Victorian adults are behind the national average, with:

• 86 per cent rating their health as excellent, very good or good (1 per cent behind)
• 57.5 per cent having a long-term health condition (7.3 per cent higher)
• Life expectancy at 81.6 years (0.8 years less)
• 117 potentially avoidable deaths per 100,000 people (nine more), and
• 514 new cancers diagnosed per 100 people (16 more).