No Jab, No Pay

No Jab No Pay (and No Jab No Play) is an Australian policy initiative which withholds three state payments – Child Care Benefit, the Child Care Rebate and, as of 2018, the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement – for parents of children under 20 years of age who are not fully immunised or on a recognised catch-up schedule,[1] and imposes fines on childcare centres that admit unvaccinated children.[2]

The policies grew out of a grassroots campaign championed by News Limited,[3] in 2013.[4] It was boosted by parent activists representing children who had died of preventable disease, notably the families of Riley Hughes and Dana McCaffery,[3] infants who died of pertussis, leading to a backlash of harassment and trolling from anti-vaccination activists.[5][6] Far-right politician Pauline Hanson also opposed the policy, though she later walked this back[7] and clarified that she supports vaccination.[8] The campaign was a response to a rise in "conscientious objections", which had reached record levels[9] particularly in the Sunshine Coast area of Queensland,[10] where early attempts to pass legislation were knocked back in 2014.[11] Efforts to circumvent the legislation included the founding of fake religions, of which the best known, the "Church of Conscious Living", was promoted by anti-vaccine group the Australian Vaccination Network[12][13] (since renamed to Australian Vaccination-risks Network after legal action over its deceptive name),[14] and by anti-vaccination activist Stephanie Messenger.[15]

No Jab No Pay was introduced in 2015,[16] and expanded in July 2018.[17][18] By July 2016, 148,000 children who had not previously been fully immunised, were meeting the new requirements.[19]

No Jab No Play was introduced at the state level, in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in 2017,[20] leading to an immediate though small rise in immunisation rates,[21] with Western Australia, which has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, following in December 2018.[22]

Public health reseachers have had mixed evaluations of No Jab, No Pay and No jab, No Play. Removing non-medical exemptions from vaccine requirements have been questioned on ethical ground, the potential for coercive policies to lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment, and the inequity of policy designed on welfare conditionality.[23][24][25] A study on the impact of removing conscientious objection from financial payments and childcare enrollments found that the policies lead to a significant increase in childhood vaccination above the pre-intervention trend. The effect of the policies were larger in areas with lower socio-economoic status, higher rates of government benefits, and higher pre-intervention coverage rates. [26] A study of adolescent catch-up vaccination found that No Jab No Pay occasioned a large rise in catch up vaccination.[27]

See also

References
  1. Health, Australian Government Department of (2017-12-18). "No Jab No Pay new requirements fact sheet". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  2. Baidawi, Adam (2017-07-24). "'No Jab, No Play': How Australia Is Handling the Vaccination Debate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  3. "Retreating to the Church of Anti-Vaccination – CSI". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  4. Hansen, Jane. "No jab, no play campaign launched to ban unvaccinated kids from childcare centres and preschools". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  5. "Anti-vaccination lobby stoops to a new low". 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  6. "Sick anti-vax trolls attack grieving mum". 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  7. staff, Guardian (2017-03-08). "'I was wrong': Pauline Hanson apologises for vaccination test claims". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  8. editor, Katharine Murphy Political (2017-03-06). "Pauline Hanson defends vaccination comments as 'personal opinion'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-03.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  9. Ngo, Cindy (2014-01-10). "Vaccine objectors rise as parents skirt 'no jab, no play' law". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  10. "Revealed: Worst child vaccination regions". 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  11. "Vaccination: Yes or no? Debate continues as rates plummet". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  12. "Anti-vacc zealots form sham church". 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  13. Medew, Julia (2015-01-28). "Anti-vaccination group encourages parents to join fake church". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  14. "Anti-vaccination group loses appeal". 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  15. Davey, Melissa (2015-01-28). "Anti-vaccination campaigner Sherri Tenpenny cancels Australian tour". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  16. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "'No Jab No Pay' and other immunisation measures". Retrieved 2019-02-03.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. "No Jab, No Pay changes". 2017-05-04. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  18. "No Jab, No Pay 2018: Changes to vaccination laws begin July 1". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  19. staff, Guardian; agencies (2016-07-30). "'No jab, no pay': thousands immunise children to avoid family payment cuts". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  20. Lillebuen, Steve (2017-11-14). "Victoria flags tougher 'No Jab No Play' childcare vaccine laws". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  21. Sati, Wiriya (2018-09-13). "Anti-vax welfare cut leads to increase in vaccinations". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  22. "WA proceeds with 'no jab, no play' laws". Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  23. Curchin, K (2019). "The Illiberalism of Behavioural Conditionality: A Critique of Australia's 'No Jab, No Pay' Policy". Journal of Social Policy. 48 (4): 789–805. doi:10.1017/S0047279418000879.
  24. Beard, Frank H; Leask, Julie; McIntyre, Peter (2017). "No Jab, No Pay and vaccine refusal in Australia: the jury is out". Medical Journal of Australia. 206 (9): 381–383. doi:10.5694/mja16.00944. PMID 28490296. S2CID 27439974.
  25. Leask, Julie; Danchin, Margie (2017). "Imposing penalties for vaccine rejection requires strong scrutiny". Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 53 (5): 439–444. doi:10.1111/jpc.13472. PMID 28168768.
  26. Li, A.; Toll, M. (2020). "Removing conscientious objection: The impact of 'No Jab No Pay' and 'No Jab No Play' vaccine policies in Australia". Preventive Medicine. 145: 106406. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106406. PMID 33388333.
  27. Hull, Brynley P; Beard, Frank H; Hendry, Alexandra J; Dey, Aditi; Macartney, Kristine (2020). ""No jab, no pay": catch‐up vaccination activity during its first two years". Med J Aust. 213 (8): 364–369. doi:10.5694/mja2.50780. PMC 7692886. PMID 32951230.
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