Immunisation is the biggest public health service delivered by Manningham City Council (MCC) and a recent initiative funded by Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (EMPHN) increased immunisation rates in children aged 24 to under 27 Months by 3.3 per cent, above herd immunity.
To increase immunisation rates of children in the community, previously hindered by an inadequate online system for parents, language barriers and lack of information about immunisation, MCC implemented:
an online booking system with a mixture of morning and evening sessions
SMS messaging system enabling two-way conversations between the parent and MCC
Chinese language consent cards for babies and young adults
data cleansing using the 11A Report of the Immunisations Register and updating people’s details
meetings conducted with maternal health nurses to encourage new parents to immunise their babies
catch up advice
MCC Immunisation rates:
Coverage rate increased by 3.34%
31 Dec 2018 coverage rate = 89.39%
31 Dec 2019 coverage rate = 92.73%
Coverage rates are 0.23% higher than the state average.
MCC vaccine and attendance rates:
53% increase of vaccines given this year compared to 2019
2,025 NIP vaccines administered this year, compared to the 932 vaccines administered for 2019
42% increase in the number of attendees to Council immunisation sessions
MCC website rates:
Website traffic has increased by 236% since last year
Feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive and surprising, with many preferring to visit MCC for future immunisations because of the way MCC have managed social distancing due to their big function rooms. Parents also report finding it easy to book their service online with MCC. Many also prefer not to be around people who are not well given the current pandemic.