Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to raise today the issue of rotavirus, an extremely unpleasant, awful and preventable illness which infects many children under five, often more than once. To give you an idea of what an infection with rotavirus will mean for a family, usually their very small child aged under five will suffer from symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and serious dehydration. The infection usually lasts from three to eight days. For parents, not to mention for the children, this kind of severe illness, particularly for a young child, is extremely distressing, especially when you consider that the highest prevalence of rotavirus is in children aged between six months and two years of age. Any parent who has stayed home to care for a child with rotavirus or had to make a trip to an emergency department will know the disruption and distress that the virus can cause. It is also highly contagious, so you can imagine the havoc caused by rotavirus making its way through a family with three children. Severe cases can and often do lead to hospitalisation. It is estimated that rotavirus causes 10,000 hospitalisations per annum on top of 22,000 emergency department visits and 115,000 GP visits.

But all of this is now preventable through the use of a new oral vaccine which could be administered to children at two and four months. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has now recommended the rotavirus vaccine for inclusion in the national immunisation program. The PBAC clearly considers that the rotavirus vaccine would be an important addition to the national immunisation program as it would result in not only reduced GP visits, emergency department visits and hospitalisations but also reduced time that parents have to take out of the workforce to look after their sick children with rotavirus. In other words, this vaccine would have not only massive health benefits for young children but also productivity benefits in the community.

Given the cost savings of this vaccine, the health benefits to children and the peace of mind it would give parents, I do have to ask why the government has not yet decided to fund this vaccine. How is the Howard government going to explain this delay to parents? I am particularly concerned if cabinet does not make the decision quickly, because it needs to do so ASAP. We will soon be in the middle of the flu season and their delay will cause thousands of unnecessary hours of misery; many children ending up in hospital; a very high cost to the community; of course, extreme distress for those children; and many hours of pain and anguish for worried parents which could be avoided.

It is about time the government took this decision. All of the steps have been taken. We can prevent this pretty awful disease for young children and we can do so easily with a vaccine which has now gone through all of the hoops. The government should stop delaying, make this decision and ensure we make this vaccine, which costs hundreds of dollars if parents have to pay for it themselves, available before the flu season hits. (Time expired)