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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Wednesday, 31 March 2004) . . Page.. 1412 ..

to ignore the recommendation of the National Health and Medical Research Council. Ms Tucker has made the comment that she is not sure that that is the case. It is my understanding that they have recommended that this vaccination be provided free. Mr Smyth is saying to delete paragraph 2 because we cannot force anything on the federal government and, going back a step to paragraph 1, to take out “provide pneumococcal vaccine free to all Australian children”.

On the first white sheet, he wants to insert a new paragraph that says:

(6) acknowledges that other organisations like the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand are not in support of vaccination of all individuals.

I have no quibble with that. Of course you would not give the vaccination to all individuals. ACT Health has a document in which it asks: who should not be given conjugate pneumococcal vaccine? It lists:

• Children with acute febrile illness (temperature above 38.5°C)—delay the vaccination until the child is well;

• Children who are hypersensitive to latex or any component of the vaccine, including diphtheria toxoid;

• Children who have experienced an allergic reaction, or anaphylactic reaction, following prior administration of Prevenar®;

The document says not to give it to infants younger than six weeks of age, based on the Prevenar product information, which indicates that Prevenar can be given at six to eight weeks. It goes on to say that the risks from pneumococcal conjugate vaccination are extremely small. It states:

The risk of this vaccine causing serious harm, or death, is extremely small. In studies involving nearly 60,000 doses, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was associated with only mild reactions: Up to one infant out of four had redness, tenderness, or swelling at the injection site—

which happens with a lot of injections.

Up to one out of three had a mild fever, and up to about one in 50 had a higher fever (over 39 degrees). Some children also became fussy or drowsy or had a loss of appetite. So far, no moderate or severe reactions have been associated with this vaccine. However, a vaccine, like medicine, could cause serious problems, such as a severe allergic reaction.

We are all aware of this. I do not have an issue with adding the paragraph about the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, but I do have an issue with the other amendments on that sheet.

MS TUCKER (12.22): I support the first amendment: delete “accept” and insert “consider quickly”. On the third amendment—to omit paragraph 2—Ms MacDonald understands Mr Smyth’s intention to be to protect the federal government. Mr Smyth said that the federal government is in fact considering this issue—which is also the understanding of my office—so it is not appropriate to have that second paragraph in. It seems quite wrong to leave that second paragraph in, as it is incorrect.

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