New report says misinformation behind low vaccination rates

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Doctors are calling for urgent action to combat declining rates of immunisation in Australia. The Australian medical association says misinformation, anti-science sentiments and vaccine fatigue are eroding the public's trust in vaccines.

Transcript

00:00we've looked at publicly available data across our infant immunizations teenagers older adults

00:08and our seasonal vaccines like flu and sadly right across all of those programs we're seeing a fall

00:14in the rate of immunizations which leaves us as doctors really worried about the impacts on

00:20individuals health on the community's health and obviously the impact on our public hospital system

00:25potentially as well well i'm particularly worried about the rates in our one-year-olds and our 18

00:32monthers which is when we immunize for measles in particular amongst other things now we all know

00:37measles is a very contagious illness and australia had managed to eliminate local transmission but

00:43we're now getting to the point where our immunization coverage rates are really at the very bottom edge

00:49of how much herd immunity we need to be able to protect our community and in some parts of the

00:54country some communities are well below that level so all it would take is a traveler bringing

00:59some measles home and we could have large epidemics on our on our shores and significant impact on our

01:06population young babies are most at risk for measles for example they're too young to be immunized

01:13and if you've got a largely unvaccinated population or even with measles less than 90 percent of your

01:19community vaccinated you then can end up with these pockets of a measles outbreak and then having

01:25infants who are too young to get their own vaccine caught up in that with severe health outcomes we

01:30think there's a few factors there i mean everyone after covid is a bit sick and tired of vaccines and

01:36we understand that there was a lot of talk about immunizations during covid a lot of pressure

01:40and people who are tired out by that we've got to remember that these other programs have been in

01:46existence for decades and been well proven but in the mix with that we're also seeing across social

01:52media and even from some governments on the other side of the world some really concerning misinformation

01:57that's not in line with the scientific evidence from many decades of practice and so people have

02:05questions and we really need to support those people who've got questions about immunization to get that

02:11time with their gp or their nurse to have a discussion and understand what might be the right decision for

02:18them and their family all levels of government need to take this seriously and play their part

02:23uh and so yes we need to find ways to meet people where they are and if that's on social media

02:29and the algorithm showing them a lot of anti-science content how do we get in there and combat that

02:35both online but also face to face uh and making sure that people still have that trusted

02:41relationship with their usual gp

02:42relationship with their usual gp

02:44relationship with their usual gp

02:48relationship with their usual gp

02:50relationship with their usual gp

02:52relationship with their usual gp

02:53relationship with their usual gp

02:54relationship with their usual gp

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended