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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Natasha May

Childhood vaccination rates are declining in Australia. Why?

An adult fills a syringe with a vaccine while a toddler looks on
Australia childhood vaccination rates have declined since hitting a peak in 2020. Photograph: Phanie/Sipa Press/Alamy

When researchers asked Australian parents whether they had heard anything recently about childhood vaccination that worried them, one in seven (14%) said yes.

They reported hearing misinformation including a debunked link between childhood immunisation and autism, as well as disparaging comments about vaccines made by Donald Trump, the US president, leading researchers to suspect that many messages coming out of the US were cutting through.

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