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Running Head: No Jab No Pay
No Jab No Pay 7
Assessment 1
Public Health Law and Policy (PUBH632)
Policy Analysis: No Jab No Pay
Australian Catholic University
September 24, 2018
The Health Ministry
Federal Government
Australia
Submission in favor of the Policy ‘No Jab No Pay’ in Australia
We represent an NGO named Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) which is a leading Organisation for Vaccine support providing 13 life-saving vaccines presently across the world. We welcome the initiative of the Australian Government in implementing the proposal of ‘No Jab No Pay policy’. We are writing this to express our support in favor of the policy. The Federal Government has taken a remarkable decision by making the immunization of children below 20 years of age as a requirement for the parents to be eligible to avail the Family Tax Benefits, Child Care Rebate and Child Care Benefits, under National Immunization Program.
GAVI is a Geneva-based vaccine alliance established in 2000 to enhance the access of the public to new vaccines for the children residing in poorest countries of the world (GAVI, 2018). The Organization
ought together all the best of what the governments, UN agencies, the vaccine industry, civil society and the private sector had to deliver for improving the coverage of childhood immunization in poor countries and to extend the access to new vaccines. We provide not only the financial resources but also the expertise to make the immunization techniques easier and more affordable to reach a condition where developing countries can pay for their vaccination services on their own. By 2017 the model reached to more than 690 million children since the time of inception and preventing more than 10 million children from death (Gavi, 2017). We help the countries to drop down the vaccination prices by fulfilling the demand of vaccines from poor countries, by working with the donors to provide long term funds for immunization schemes, by working as a global platform for vaccination, and by developing more stable markets for the vaccines.
In November 2015, the parliament of Federal Government passed a bill by the name of Social Services Amendment Legislation Act 2015, which formally put an end to the right to put an objection to the vaccines for availing specific benefits enlisted under A New Tax System Act 1999 (Cth). It was implemented on January 1’2016. The policy aims to increase the vaccination rates and reduce the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. From 1 January 2016, the policy states that only the parents of children below 20 years of age, who are completely immunized are eligible to receive the Child Care rebate, Child Care benefit and Family tax at the end of the year. The children who have contraindications or natural immunity will be exempted from the requirements. The contraindications must be prepared for the valid reasons on medical grounds and must not be motivated by the personal beliefs of the parents towards vaccines. The contraindications can only be provided on the approved ACIR immunization medical exemption form which is only available with the general practitioners. The details about the children less than 20 years of age who have been given the vaccine can be submitted online through the portal of Medicare Online, Health Professional Online Services and also Manually.
Vaccines are helpful in wiping out the majority of diseases. The policy will act as an anti-vaccination movement in Australia, stripping down the tax credits for the defaulter parents. The immunization is the safest way to keep the children protected from a number of vaccine-preventable diseases. The unimmunized kids not only catch preventable diseases but also...