More than half of Australia's parents are worried about the safety of childhood vaccines, according to a new survey, with public health officials concerned that a shift in support for vaccination could lead to reduced coverage rates and outbreaks of disease.
More than 1,300 Australians, including 400 parents, gave their views in a national survey of attitudes to vaccination.
The survey, conducted by Australia Online Research for SBS-TV, found that 53% parents had concerns about vaccinating their children. Of those concerned parents, 45% chose to vaccinate anyway, while 8% withheld or delayed vaccines.
One in four parents were worried about a specific aspect of vaccination, with an increasing number of vaccines, ''inadequate safety testing'' and fears a child's immune system could be overloaded among the most common.
Survey adviser Associate Professor Julie Leask, of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance at the University of Sydney, said in a statement that overseas research had shown that people with higher levels of education were more likely to oppose vaccination.
She said educated people were more inclined to question medical intervention in general, and may not immunise without a lot of questioning. ''If their friends are not vaccinating, they may see it as more normal to question it and select out vaccines, maybe even demand a special schedule for their child,'' she said.
She suspected there was growing hesitancy about vaccination in Australia, driven by greater consumerism in health and the rise of alternative therapies.
Federal government data shows 92% of two-year-olds are fully immunised, but data released by the National Health Performance Authority last month showed some areas with lower coverage.
The research comes on top of news last week that Federal Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, is considering a ‘no vaccination, no school’ policy. The NSW Opposition Leader, John Robertson, also intends moving for legislative changes to allow childcare centres to refuse right of entry for non-vaccinated children.
The AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, says that vaccination is one of the great success stories of public health.
Dr Hambleton wrote recently about the importance of vaccination for individual and public health.
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