A petition to require full reporting of vaccine reactions

We the undersigned agree with the findings of the recent Stokes Report in Western Australia. These findings demonstrate that vaccine reactions are not being properly reported and as a result, Australian children are being placed at risk. We support the introduction of legislation to achieve the following goals to remedy this situation.

1- A requirement for all health practitioners to report vaccine reactions to the TGA when these reactions are reported to them by parents. For the purposes of this legislation, the definition of an adverse reaction will be defined as those listed in Appendix 6 of the 9th Edition of the Australian Immunisation  Handbook. The penalties involved in either failing to or refusing to report will be a loss of bonuses paid under the General Practice Immunisation Incentive (GPII).

2- A requirement to reveal the vaccination status of those who contract 'vaccine preventable' illnesses. Currently, this information is not tracked and indeed, the forms used by doctors don't even ask for this information, leading to a gap in our knowledge about the effectiveness of the currently-licensed vaccines.

3- The funding of a study using the already-available information from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register's (ACIR's) database which currently tracks who is vaccinated and who is not. The ACIR is linked with the Medicare database, meaning that this study will be inexpensive and easy. This study would provide information comparing the amount of Medicare money spent on healthcare for vaccinated Australians as compared with unvaccinated Australians. This information will give us a good indication of the overall health status of both groups.