Doctors and the medical community need to take vaccination hesitancy seriously, or risk seeing immunisation rates fall, researchers have found.
While nationally, the immunisation rate has remained largely stable, sitting between 91 and 93 per cent, it is not uniform, with some regions, including northern New South Wales and inner city Melbourne and Sydney dipping into the 80s.
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Parents at odds with anti-vaccination movement
Parents of children who cannot receive the measles vaccine urge parents of healthy children to vaccinate, saying it's unfair to put their children at risk of the outbreak.
That's partially because of concerns about vaccinations; A research paper recently published by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners found more than half of parents who did immunise their children reported some unease.
Senior Research Fellow and general paediatrician at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Margie Danchin, who co-authored the paper, said doctors needed resources and support in addressing concerns.
"Even though there is strong support for vaccination … we found that just over half, had some degree of concern; now that was from mild concerns all the way up to those who were refusing vaccines," she said.
"If we don't start looking at interventions and ways to address parents concerns along that spectrum, then how are we going to maintain confidence in the national immunisation program and make sure those rates don't drop and, in fact, that they go up."
It shows the vaccine debate is not as black and white as those who are pro-immunisation and those who are against it, Dr Danchin said, and Australian parents reported concerns consistent with what was being found internationally, including not enough testing and the number of vaccines recommended for children under the age of two.
"They seem to stem from the fact that most parents don't see the diseases and many of the diseases we immunise against on the national immunisation program are quite uncommon now," she said.
"There's that shift in perception of risk, of being more frightened of the vaccines than the impact of the diseases.
"I think that speaks to the fact that we are such an electronic generation and we have so much access to information and the internet, so parents are far more likely to read about concerns about vaccines or possible adverse effects of vaccines than they are to read about the impacts of diseases on children.
"We know that healthcare providers are the most trusted source of vaccine promotion and we would encourage parents with concerns to speak to providers."
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Bastian Seidel said 86 per cent of Australians visited their GP at least once a year. He said visits to the doctor should be an opportunity for people to address any concerns they had about vaccinations.
"Vaccinations are such a great success story and keep Australians healthy," he said.
"Poor access to care, fragmentation and scaremongering unfortunately undermine the effectiveness of vaccination programs. As GPs we need to have a dialogue with our patients to counter that on a daily basis."
The Support And Resources to Assist Hesitant parents project – a collaboration of researchers with specific expertise in vaccination – is helping GPs, who remain one of the most trusted sources of vaccine information, talk to parents about their concerns. .
"If there is a vaccine safety scare for whatever reason," Dr Danchin said, "parents can easily withdraw their support and stop vaccinating, if we don't maintain overall confidence in the immunisation program."