Vaccinations before your child starts school or child care
You must provide a copy of your child's immunisation record when you enrol your child at childcare, preschool or primary school.
This will help identify children most at risk if there is an outbreak of a disease at a school or childcare centre. Immunisation is not compulsory, however your child may have to stay home if there is an outbreak.
To be fully immunised for primary school, preschool or childcare, your child needs to have received all vaccines recommended for their age as part of the National Immunisation Program.
Getting your child immunised
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If you don't provide an immunisation history
If you do not provide your child’s immunisation history then your child will be recorded as being not fully immunised by the primary school, preschool or childcare centre.
If there is a case of a vaccine preventable disease at the school or childcare centre, your child may be excluded from school or childcare for a period of time or until the evidence of immunisation is provided, or until the risk to your child has passed.
Medical exemptions
If your child has a medical condition which prevents them from being immunised, your doctor will need to complete a medical exemption form and submit it to the Australian Immunisation Register.
You can download the form from the Australian Immunisation website.
You will need to provide a letter stating your child has a medical exemption to the school or childcare centre.
Homeopathic immunisation
Homeopathic immunisation has not been shown to work as an alternative to conventional immunisation in preventing vaccine preventable diseases.
Only conventional immunisation produces measurable immune responses against vaccine preventable diseases. The National Health and Medical Research Council consider a homeopathically immunised child to be not immunised.
Homeopathic substances may be used in conjunction with conventional immunisation if desired, but not as an alternative.
Keeping your child at home
Parents are sometimes asked to keep their child at home in the event of illness or disease. This is often called exclusion.
If your child has an infectious disease or has been in contact with someone with an infectious disease, they may need to be excluded from school or childcare for a period of time, whether they are immunised or not.
Details of when and how long your child should stay at home are listed in Staying healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services [PDF 1.1 MB].
Notifying conditions
If your child has a listed exclusion condition or has been in contact with a listed exclusion condition, please tell the school principal or childcare centre coordinator as soon as possible.
Doctors, nurse practitioners, laboratories, hospitals and people responsible for the care or education of others, including teachers and educators, are required to notify ACT Health of notifiable conditions.
The list of notifiable conditions is available from the Reporting of Notifiable Conditions Code of Practice.