Is it selfish not to vaccinate your kids? I've always taken the view that it's personal choice if a parent wants to immunise their child. But that was before becoming a mother. That was before outbreaks of chickenpox and measles surfaced in my own backyard.

Late last year it was reported that around a quarter of children who attended a particular primary school were struck with chickenpox. Now we are hearing of measles outbreaks in the same area: Brunswick.

Some doctors are blaming anti-vaccination campaigners. The aim in Australia is for a 95% immunisation rate but in Brunswick the immunisation rate for children aged five is 90 per cent, 89 per cent for those aged two, and 94 per cent for one year olds. Is it just a coincidence the viral party is happening in Brunswick?

It's only in the last few years (now that my child is of school age) that I've come to realise how someone not vaccinating their child affects my child. I had just assumed that if there was an outbreak that my child would be fine while the unimmunised children would catch it and suffer through it. But I was wrong.