ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Health Katy Gallagher MLA today said that the latest figures show the ACT is ahead of the national average in child immunisation.

The Chief Minister was speaking about the June 2012 quarter immunisation data provided by the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR). She also took the opportunity to remind parents to take advantage of a free supplementary does of vaccination against pneumococcal.

"I'm happy to announce that the ACT has achieved immunisation coverage above the national average for all children at the important milestones 12 months, two years and five years," the Chief Minister said.

In the June 2012 report for all children, the ACT has achieved immunisation coverage above the national average for all three milestones. The ACT is ranked second for one-year-olds (93.12% compared with 91.91% nationally, fourth in for two-year-olds (92.76 compared with 92.29 and third in the five-year-old group90.93% ahead of a national figure of (90.49%).

Immunisation in the ACT is a collaborative effort between public and private immunisation providers, and these groups have formed strong partnerships to raise awareness of the value of immunisation and the importance of receiving vaccinations at the correct time.

"To protect children against vaccine preventable diseases it is important to remind parents to have their children immunised at the right time," the Chief Minister said.

"I'd like to remind parents that children are due for immunisations at two, four, six, 12 and 18 months of age and again at four years.

"I'd also like to encourage parents of children aged one and two years to take advantage of the free supplementary dose of Prevenar 13® which provides protection against six additional serotypes of pneumococcal strain bacteria, available only until 30 September 2012.

"Babies can safely receive their first immunisations from six weeks of age and the four year old immunisations can be given from when a child is three years and six months of age," the Chief Minister concluded.