New reforms being introduced by NSW Health may see high-school students who haven’t had their annual flu shot stopped from entering a classroom.
As reported by Ten, this policy is already in place in childcare centres and primary schools during times when there’s a disease outbreak , but is now looking at being extended to high schools.
What the new reforms are edging towards is giving students a two-week ban from their school “if they come in contact with another child who is suffering from a vaccine-preventable disease regardless of whether or not they are sick themselves”.
This comes as NSW Health are clamping down on anti-vaccination parents who claim “conscientious objection” when enrolling or sending their kids to school.
However, what public health professionals who are backing the reforms are concerned about is the possibility that these anti-vaccination parents will lie about their child’s shots, or who they’re unvaccinated child has been in contact with.
Professer Brad Frankum, president of the Australian Medical Association in New South Wales, explains that while there may be opposing views on these reforms, it is, in his opinion, for the greater good.
“I see compliance problems with it but in theory we should do everything we can to protect as many kids as we can from vaccine preventable disease,” he says.
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