The annual Immunisation Bike Competition is back this year to help increase childhood immunisation rates in Western Sydney. From 2011-2022, we’ve seen 17,363 children immunised through this competition.
Registration is now open for Western Sydney practices to participate in the 2023 Immunisation Bike Competition via the Expression of Interest form. The competition will run from 1 October 2023 to 31 January 2024.
Every child who receives their 12-month, 18-month or four-year-old immunisation from a participating practice can enter a prize draw to win a bike and helmet. Practices are invited to participate in the yearly competition to ensure that children are immunised on time, communities are protected, and families know the importance of timely vaccinations. By participating, practices help protect children and the wider community from serious diseases that can cause ongoing health conditions.
Once registered, our Primary Care Development team will provide practices with the necessary collateral to run and raise awareness of this campaign. In response to feedback from participating practices in previous years, we have developed our campaign’s poster and our new online patient registration form to include the top five languages spoken within the Western Sydney Primary Health Network region:
- English
- Arabic
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Hindi
- Urdu
We are also partnering with GoShare to deliver bundled translated resources about childhood immunisation, making it easier for GPs to educate their patients. By doing this, we hope to give patients whose primary language is not English, greater access to participating in the competition and understanding the importance of timely immunisations.
Last year, 196 practices participated in the Immunisation Bike Competition, which is around 60% of Western Sydney practices. In last year’s post-competition survey, GPs shared what they thought about the competition:
- “It’s helpful in promoting childhood vaccination”
- “Highlights the importance of vaccinations for people of all ages. Starts a conversation amongst the community, particularly at this time when there is a lot of discussion around vaccination”
- “I found an increased number of children being vaccinated on time during this time frame”
- “Stickers and colouring for kids were a great distraction from needles”
- “It can help boost the child’s braveness and also encourage some parents to submit their children for an on-time immunisation”
- “It’s a helpful resource to assist in promoting childhood vaccines and kids get to see an exciting side/positive side of getting a needle”
- “Is a very informative and positive way of involving children with vaccines experience”
- “It doesn’t take much effort on the practice’s behalf and the patients can benefit not only from vaccination but they can win a prize as well”
To further increase childhood vaccination rates in Western Sydney, we encourage all practices to sign-up for this year’s Immunisation Bike Competition.
For more information about last year’s competition, please read A Decade of the Immunisation Bike Competition.