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Documentation of children's vaccination status in child care centres in Victoria
1Epidemiology and Social Research Unit, Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Fairfield, Australia.
Insights
Many Victorian child care centres lack adequate systems for documenting children's immunisation status, hindering disease outbreak control. Improved record-keeping and educational strategies are essential for child health protection.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Childcare Services
- Immunisation Policy
Background:
- Childcare centres play a crucial role in early childhood education and care.
- Maintaining accurate vaccination records is vital for preventing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the comprehensiveness and accuracy of vaccination record-keeping practices in Victorian childcare centres.
- To identify factors associated with inadequate record-keeping in childcare settings.
Main Methods:
- A mailed questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 113 registered childcare centres in Victoria.
- The survey assessed centre characteristics, policies, and documentation of children's vaccination status.
Main Results:
- A high response rate (86.7%) was achieved, with over 95% of centres caring for children under two.
- Only 85% of centres maintained immunisation records, with smaller and occasional care centres showing lower compliance.
- Record updates were infrequent, and less than half documented Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccination.
Conclusions:
- Many childcare centres in Victoria have insufficient systems for recording and updating children's immunisation status.
- Inadequate record-keeping complicates the exclusion of unvaccinated children during outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
- Enhanced legislation and educational initiatives are recommended to improve childcare centre vaccination record practices.
Objective:
To assess the record-keeping of child care centres in Victoria with respect to children's vaccination status.
Methodology:
A random sample of 113 centres from a list of over 800 registered Victorian child care centres received a mailed questionnaire on characteristics and policies of the centre, including documentation of attending children's vaccination status.
Results:
The response rate was 86.7%; more than 95% of centres had children under two in care. Only 85% of centres kept any record of children's immunisation status, with smaller centres and class 2 centres (occasional care centres) significantly less likely to keep records. Records were updated irregularly. Fewer than half of the centres studied kept a record of whether children had been vaccinated against Haemophilus influenzae type b.
Conclusions:
Despite the importance of documenting children's vaccination status, many child care centres have failed to develop adequate systems to record or update records of children's immunisation. This makes exclusion during outbreaks of a vaccine-preventable disease difficult. The ongoing process of accreditation may eventually improve performance, but both legislation and a better educational strategy to improve practice in this area are needed.