Australia to cut benefits to families who don't vaccinate their children

CANBERRA, Australia, April 13 (UPI) -- The Australian government will stop providing child care welfare benefits to families who don't vaccinate their children, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Monday.

The government will end a policy that allows parents who don't believe in vaccinations to claim welfare benefits under a "conscientious objector" exemption.

Parents who choose not to immunize their kids stand to lose up to $11,000 per child in child care rebates and other publicly funded benefits.

"Parents who vaccinate their children should have confidence that they can take their children to child care without the fear that their children will be at risk of contracting a serious or potentially life-threatening illness because of the conscientious objections of others," Abbott said in a statement.

"This is essentially a 'no jab, no pay' policy from this government," Abbott told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "It's a very important public health announcement, it's a very important measure to keep our children and our families as safe as possible."

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said families will still have access to a religious exemption but only if their religious organization has a "formal" objection to vaccinations.

Morrison said no "mainstream" religious institution in Australia opposes the practice.

"So this would apply to a very, very small proportion of people," Morrison said. "It'd be lucky to be in the thousands, if that."

More than 39,000 Australian children under age 7 have not been vaccinated because their parents don't believe in childhood vaccinations, according to the Abbott government.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged American parents to vaccinate their children last February after public health officials attributed a measles outbreak to unvaccinated children.

Obama told NBC that "the science is, you know, pretty indisputable."

Through the vast majority of the scientific community has maintained that childhood vaccinations are safe, some anti-vaccination advocates believe that immunization can lead to disorders like autism.