THE number of Australian parents refusing to vaccinate their children against preventable diseases has more than doubled in the past decade.

Figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph reveal 26,000 children are excluded from the national immunisation program because their parents have registered as "conscientious objectors". This compares with 12,050 children in 2000.

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Experts say there are likely to be at least 52,000 unvaccinated children, as many parents do not record their intentions with the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register.

Parents who register as conscientious objectors can still receive child care benefits and maternity allowances, which are normally conditional on up-to-date immunisation, but their children may be excluded from school or child care during outbreaks of disease.

Doctors across the country were ordered last week to stop giving the controversial flu vaccine to under-fives, following a spate of adverse reactions marked by high fever and seizures.

Public-health experts maintain that children who are denied routine jabs, which do not include flu, are putting themselves and others at risk.

"If your child isn't immunised, they remain at risk of diseases that have pretty much gone away for everyone else," National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance director Professor Peter McIntyre said.

"They're protected by other people being vaccinated but, if a disease does emerge, they're the ones who are going to get it.

"There's the individual risk to the child, but there's also the risk to other kids, such as those with immune deficiency and other problems."

Registry data shows 83 per cent of five-year-olds in NSW were fully immunised as of March 31 - slightly less than the national average.

Meryl Dorey, of the action group Australian Vaccination Network, said many parents did not realise they could get government benefits if their children were not vaccinated.

Conscientious objectors can retain benefits if they sign a one-page form saying they have a "personal, philosophical, religious or medical" objection to childhood vaccination.

A doctor's signature is required to confirm the benefits and risks of immunisation have been explained.

Unvaccinated children were 15 to 20 times as likely to get Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) meningitis, which can result in brain damage or death, compared with those who were vaccinated, Professor McIntyre said.

The official conscientious-objector figures were only part of the picture because just as many parents did not bother to register, he said. s, he said.

"We've always found there would be just as many, if not more, parents who didn't don't bother to register because their children didn't go to childcare or they didn't need the benefits," Prof McIntyre said.

Medicare said figures from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register showed 26,000 or 1.3 per cent of children were registered as conscientious objectors by March 31, 2010.

Regional clusters of low childhood vaccination rates have been identified in NSW's north coast, upper Blue Mountains, eastern suburbs and Mosman.