Immunisation Profiles

3.11 IMMUNISATION PROFILES

Educators may be exposed to diseases that are preventable by immunisation including hepatitis A, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and pertussis.  Educators that have not previously been infected with or immunised against these diseases are at risk of infection.  All of these diseases can cause serious illness in adults.  Some of these diseases, such as rubella and chickenpox, can cause serious damage to an unborn baby if a woman is infected during pregnancy.  Early childhood educators will normally be at minimal risk of hepatitis B.

To prevent or minimise the risk to early childhood educators from exposure to diseases that are preventable by vaccination, the Centre follows National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommendations and encourages all educators to be immunised against the following:

• Pertussis- this is especially important for educators caring for younger children who are not fully vaccinated.  Even if you were vaccinated in childhood, booster vaccination may be necessary because immunity to pertussis decreases over time
• Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) for educators and other staff born during or since 1966 who do not have vaccination records of two doses of MMR, or do not have antibodies against rubella
• Varicella for educators and other staff who have not previously had varicella (a blood test is required to prove previous infection)
• Hepatitis A, because young children can be infectious even if they are not showing any symptoms
• Influenza- provided annually for all educators staff by the Centre as part of our Health Policy

It is educator’s responsibility to fill out a ‘Employee Immunisation Record’ (see appendix 2) upon employment, and to keep this record updated as they are immunised.

The Centre will provide team members with information about diseases that are preventable by immunisation through written material and handouts and reminders at meetings.

As with the children, if there is an outbreak of an immunisable / notifiable disease, any educators unimmunised may be excluded from the Centre following advice from the Public Health Unit.

Staying up to date with immunisations is the most effective way you can protect yourself and the children and babies you work with from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Sources:

- ‘Staying Healthy’- 5^th Edition 2012 - NHMRC

- www.health.vic.gov.au

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