Declining vaccination rates spark major national campaigns

Declining vaccination rates have triggered the launch of two major Federal Government campaigns, but one RACGP expert says their broad messaging is not effective in building trust among hesitant patients.
 
On Sunday, Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler launched the Childhood Immunisation Campaign and the Winter Vaccination Program in an attempt to tackle Australia’s falling vaccination rates, believed to be driven by increasing misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.
 
One campaign will focus on reminding parents and carers to vaccinate on time and follow the childhood immunisation schedule, while the other is aimed at helping older people protect themselves against respiratory illness.
 
Dr Michael Tam, a member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care, told newsGP that while the campaigns are welcome, they are ‘somewhat generic’.
 
‘Community trust is not easily built with central messaging, but requires localisation of places and communities,’ he said.
 
‘Broader public messaging support can be helpful, but even better would be explicit messaging for people who may be vaccine hesitant to see their trusted GP for advice.’
 
The announcement coincides with World Immunization Week, which this year carries the theme ‘for every generation, vaccines work’, as the World Health Organization addresses a global drop in vaccination coverage.
 
Childhood vaccine rates in Australia are at a five-year low, with ‘tens of thousands of young children’ unprotected as of 1 April.
 
Despite proactive measures at state and federal level, disease hotspots continue to emerge around the country.
 
Western Australia is currently experiencing an outbreak of diphtheria, while in Victoria, more than 20 public exposure sites for measles in April are listed.
 
Dr Tam said that ‘undoubtedly’ vaccine hesitancy and misinformation are both playing a role in the declining vaccination rates.
 
‘We are moving to three to four years after the frenetic period of COVID-19 immunisation. Since that time, there has been a mainstreaming and incentivisation of health misinformation through various social media platforms and personalities,’ he said.
 
RACGP Specific Interest – Public Health Chair Dr Peter Markey said there is a long list of reasons why parents are not vaccinating their children.
 
As shown in a recent NCIRS survey on barriers to childhood vaccinations, he told newsGP this includes negative beliefs about vaccine safety and a lack of trust in information from healthcare providers.
 
‘And then, choosing not to prioritise vaccination. That means parents are just too busy doing other things,’ Dr Markey added.
 
Both GPs also believe key at-risk cohorts are still being missed by the NIP.
 
Dr Tam, who works with patients living with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, says this cohort is not covered for annual influenza immunisation under the NIP unless they meet one of the other criteria.
 
‘More people living with severe mental illness die from influenza than suicide,’ he said.
 
‘I believe this is a major policy oversight in our national immunisation strategy for an at-risk group.’
 
Dr Markey supports the RACGP’s call for the meningococcal B vaccine to be added to the NIP for the at-risk groups of 0–2-year-olds and 15–19-year-olds, rather than being funded ‘ad hoc’ by some states.
 
However, to help GPs support the Federal Government’s immunisation drive, Dr Markey said the SKAI resources (Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation) are ‘really good resources’ for both GPs and consumers.
 
‘With vaccine hesitancy, you can’t just tell parents they’re wrong. It just doesn’t work,’ he said.
 
‘So, one of the things that GPs can do, they can say to a hesitant parent, “well, that’s a really interesting thing that you say about the vaccines. Between now and next week, go and see this website”, and the GP can hopefully get some more people vaccinated.’
 
Dr Tam said GPs have the advantage of working with patients ‘over a longitudinal relationship rather than a single episode of care’.
 
‘The campaigns will only ever be one part of an immunisation strategy,’ he said.
 
‘GPs and nurses in GP clinics provide the majority of all immunisations in the Australian community and will continue to do so.’
 
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