EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Family Assistance (Vaccination Schedules) (DEEWR) Determination 2009
Summary
This Determination is made under section 4 of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (the Act). The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The purpose of this Determination is to replace, for the purposes of child care benefit (CCB), the vaccination schedules for the purposes of the definition of ‘immunised’ in subsection 3(1) of the Act and to redefine the circumstances in which a child is considered to be overdue for a particular vaccination.
The catch up vaccination schedule continues to be the catch up vaccination schedule published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in the Australian Immunisation Handbook (the Handbook) but is limited to those childhood diseases and antigens for which vaccines funded under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) are available.
Background
For an individual to be eligible for CCB, the child must satisfy the immunisation eligibility requirements in section 6 of the Act. Children under the age of 7 must have age-appropriate immunisation or be on a catch-up schedule (unless legal exemptions apply).
‘Immunised’ is defined in subsection 3(1) of the Act as meaning immunised in accordance with a standard or catch up vaccination schedule determined under section 4. Under section 4, the Minister must, by legislative instrument, determine one or more of each of those schedules.
The immunisation requirement in section 6 of the Act also applies to maternity immunisation allowance (MIA), a benefit administered by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). Amendments to the Act introduced in the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Further 2008 Budget and Other Measures) Act 2008 mean that from 1 January 2009 MIA is generally paid in 2 payments in respect of children up to the age of 5, with the second payment available once the child turns 4. Those amendments necessitated the replacement of the Family Assistance (Vaccination Schedules) Determination 2003 (the 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination), insofar as it applied to MIA, with the Family Assistance (Vaccination Schedules) (FaHCSIA) 2008 (the FaHCSIA Vaccination Schedules) which came into effect on 1 January 2009. To encourage the provision of vaccinations to 4 year olds close to the time when the vaccination is due, the FaHCSIA Vaccination Schedules reduced the timeframe within which the immunisation for a 4 year old child is taken to be overdue for the purposes of MIA from 1 year after the fourth birthday to 1 month after the fourth birthday.
The 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination continues to apply to eligibility for CCB. This means eligibility for CCB is maintained even if a child under the age of 5 is not immunised for MIA purposes as required under the FaHCSIA Vaccination Schedules.
As the same children are affected by the MIA and CCB immunisation requirements, this Determination revokes the 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination and replaces it with a new vaccination schedule for the purposes of CCB to realign the immunisation requirements for CCB eligibility with the immunisation requirements for MIA eligibility.
To support the policy intent of encouraging full vaccination of children close to the time when the vaccination is due, a child will be considered overdue for their 4 year old vaccination for the purposes of CCB eligibility if the child does not receive it within 1 month of turning 4.
This Determination commences on 1 January 2010. The change of the timeframe relating to consideration of whether a child is overdue for a vaccination will apply to a child born after 1 January 2006, that is, to a child who is 4 years old or younger at the commencement. This is to ensure that children older than 4 years and 1 month at the commencement of this Determination, and who had not had their 4 year old vaccinations, are not treated as overdue for the vaccination. The timeframe for these children for getting these vaccinations remains 1 year after the vaccination is due.
The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs has provided approval for the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to revoke the 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination.
Explanation of the sections
Part 1 - Preliminary
Name of Determination
Section 1 sets out the name of the Determination.
Commencement
Section 2 provides that the Determination commences on
1 January 2010.
Revocation
Section 3 revokes the 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination.
Definitions
Section 4 contains definitions for terms that are used in the Determination.
Part 2 – Vaccination schedules
Application of Part 2
Section 5 provides that Part 2 of the Determination only applies to CCB.
Standard Vaccination Schedule
Subsection 6(1) provides that the standard vaccination schedule, which applies to eligibility for CCB in respect of children from birth up to 7 years of age, is the schedule set out in Schedule 1. It also provides a series of rules that are to be read in conjunction with the standard vaccination schedule.
The standard vaccination schedule in Schedule 1 lists the diseases and antigens against which a child must be vaccinated at a particular age to meet the definition of “immunised” in the Act for the purposes of eligibility for CCB.
The 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination listed the diseases and antigens against which a child born at a particular time must be vaccinated at a particular age. The new Schedule 1 generalises to all children the requirements previously imposed by the 2003 Vaccination Schedules Determination only upon children born after 1 January 2004.
Generally, a child will be overdue for a vaccination one month after the vaccination is due. This rule is set out in subsection 6(2).
However, if the vaccination is due at 4 years, then for children born prior to
1 January 2006, the vaccination is overdue at 5 years. This is set out in subsection 6(3). This timeframe is the same as that imposed by the 2003 Vaccinations Schedule Determination, leaving unchanged the timing of vaccination requirements for these children.
If a child is overdue for a vaccination, the child is not “immunised” in accordance with the standard vaccination schedule. This may affect the eligibility for CCB for the child.
Subsection 6(4) requires that a vaccine used to vaccinate a child must be registered as a vaccine on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods that is maintained under section 9A of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. However, this rule is subject to subsection 6(5).
Subsection 6(5) makes an exception to the general rule imposed by subsection 6(4) for the situation where vaccine is used to vaccinate a child while the child is outside Australia.
Subsection 6(6) clarifies that a child may be vaccinated in accordance with either Path A or Path B for Hib.
Catch up vaccination schedule
Catch up vaccination schedules may apply where a child has missed the required vaccinations at the relevant time, and are likely to apply to most children who have been adopted or are in the process of being adopted from overseas. Subsection 7(1) provides that the catch up vaccination schedule is the catch up vaccination schedule published by the NHMRC in the Handbook. However, only the vaccinations against diseases or antigens listed in Schedule 1 are relevant for the purposes of the catch up schedule. In common with the standard Schedule, only those vaccines registered as a vaccine on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods may be used to immunise a child pursuant to a catch-up schedule, where that vaccination does not occur outside Australia.
The rules relating to the consideration of when a child is overdue for a catch up vaccination are set out in subsections 7(2) and (3). As a general rule, a child would be overdue for a vaccination under the catch up vaccination schedule one month after the vaccination is due. However, where the vaccination is due on or after the child turns 4, and the child was born prior to 1 January 2006, the vaccination would be overdue either when the child turns 5 or one month after the vaccination is due, whichever is the later.
Consultation
Consultation on this Determination was undertaken with the Department of Health and Ageing, FaHCSIA and the Department of Human Services (Medicare Australia).
Regulatory Impact Statement
This Determination does not require a Regulatory Impact Statement and/or a Business Cost Calculator Figure. The Determination is not regulatory in nature, will have no or minimal compliance costs, and will have no or minimal impact on business activity or competition.