A MOTHER of two wants to start up a childcare centre for children who are unvaccinated.

Juanita “Wanda” Halden, from Tabulum, west of Casino, NSW, said her “no vax school” was in response to government changes such as “no jab, no play” and the federal “no jab, no pay” policy, which will strip conscientious objectors of taxpayer-funded family benefits as of next year.

“The No Vacc Child Care Centre is a project idea. R & D will commence in 2016. I have been approached by a small number of mothers and I continue to receive messages and online comments from parents in support of this stance,” she said.

However, Paul Corben, director of public health for the Northern NSW Local Health District, warned that the low vaccination rates in the region were leading to more cases of whooping cough.

“Even so, localities in Northern NSW with low vaccination coverage are experiencing higher rates of whooping cough than their neighbouring communities,” Mr Corben said.

“If you get a lot of unvaccinated children together, it’s like an incubator, a lot of vulnerable people together which supports the rapid transmission of vaccine-preventable diseases. It’s like throwing fuel on a fire, so it’s not a clever idea.”

The far north coast of NSW has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country thanks to misinformation and unfounded fears which Ms Halden perpetuates including the debunked autism link. She cited junk science, Wikipedia and vitamin C for whooping cough papers as her sources.

“I am of the opinion that proposed No Vax Child Care Centre participants would be in a position of less susceptibility to serious communicable diseases based on the knowledge that the parents of these children already have,” she said.

“They already know the risks, they already know that the heart of immunity boosting and disease resistance lays (sic) within gut flaura (sic) strengthening and that Homeopathic programs offer a safer alternative than the current multiple injection vaccine schedule.”

Ms Halden mistakenly believes unvaccinated children are refused enrolment at child care centres which she called “a war crime against humanity”.

“Think anti discrimination, war crimes, crimes against humanity, human rights violations, assault and battery charges and more,” she said.

No child is denied access to child care in NSW. Under the new laws, if children have a medical contraindication to vaccination, are on a recognised catch-up schedule for immunisation, or if the parents or guardians are reluctant to vaccinate on religious or other grounds, the parents or guardian will have to produce Commonwealth forms that have been completed by a GP or nurse immuniser before entrance into a childcare centre.

Under the federal government’s no jab, no pay law, conscientious objectors will not be able to claim family payments or the immunisation bonus, a policy Ms Halden said was akin to “slavery”.

There has already been a backlash on social media to her plan with a number of readers commenting in shock on the Daily Telegraph’s Facebook page.

Neil Birdman posted: “Well, it will be interesting to see how many kids come down with all the illnesses compared to a standard centre. If it is greater than average by any great margin she would have blown her theory out of the water about the cause.”

Angela Dickinson commented: “Anti-vax parents (usually mothers, not fathers) are often the hippie & anti-establishment types. Nothing will convince them to follow the advice of medical professionals with decades of experience.”