Fewer Qld students than ever are vaccinated against common infection

Queensland Children’s Hospital infection specialist Sophie Wen said vaccination was the best way to protect children from serious preventable diseases.

“There are higher rates of carriage of the bacteria in the 15 to 19-year-old age group, meaning they can transmit it to people who are at increased risk of infection, including young children and those who are immunocompromised,” she said.

“If we look at the risks of not getting them, they’re obviously at risk of the disease … the booster dose of tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough is particularly important because for a lot of kids their last dose of a vaccine containing tetanus would have been when they were four years of age.

“Tetanus is one of those things you can’t…