Opinion: Social media misinformation could set vaccination back a decade

While vaccine misinformation and fatigue are rising, immunisation rates are falling, writes Shannon Fentiman.

Australia is running out of time to combat a sinister threat that surfaced during the pandemic.

In many ways our country – especially Queensland – emerged stronger from Covid-19.

Our economy grew; our sense of community deepened; vulnerable people felt protected; we celebrated our frontline health workers; and we rediscovered the importance of mental wellbeing and a good work-life balance.

But while Queenslanders were making sacrifices that saved lives, a new threat emerged.

It is becoming clear that weaponised misinformation – especially through social media – risks setting back vaccination efforts by a decade or more.

While vaccine misinformation and fatigue are rising, immunisation rates are falling.

We know that vaccines are a safe and effective way to protect our community from preventable disease and illness.

Without them, everyday Queenslanders and vulnerable groups are put at greater risk, and our hospitals are forced to cope with unnecessary additional demand.

Despite this, fewer people have been getting jabbed since the pandemic. This is especially alarming for our kids.

In Australia between 2014 and 2020, the number of fully immunised children between one and five years of age increased year on year, without fail.

Since 2020, the numbers are going down. Across virtually every state and age group, fewer children are getting fully vaccinated against illnesses like polio, tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella.

A UNICEF report earlier this year found that the number of Australians who believed childhood vaccines were important had fallen by 7.5 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.

Despite the advent of Covid-19, vaccines are less appreciated than before.

And it’s not just childhood vaccines. Between March and early July this year, the number of Queenslanders getting vaccinated against the flu dropped 18.6 per cent.

Only after Queensland announced we would make vaccines free for the 2023 flu season did vaccination rates began to increase. These trends cannot continue.

On Friday I am convening a vaccination summit comprised of health experts, doctors, pharmacists, and patients.

It’s part of an ongoing effort to chart a course forward for boosting vaccination rates and combating vaccine fatigue and misinformation.

We must work harder to understand the community’s concerns and how they are formed.

But we cannot allow a repeat of the pandemic, when a lack of national leadership by the former government meant states had to go it alone.

Queensland is taking bold steps – providing free flu shots for the 2022-23 flu seasons and making the meningococcal B vaccine permanently free.

I welcome the commonwealth’s recent announcement that the shingles vaccine will be free for over-65s – but there’s so much more to be done.

Queensland is ready, willing, and able to put funding on the table to contribute to a nationwide vaccination awareness campaign led by the federal government.

This is a crisis we can see coming. We get to choose how we respond.

Will we choose a national response that is caring and co-­ordinated? Or will we consign the health of our kids to conspiracies and clickbait?

I urge the federal government to follow Queensland’s lead.

Shannon Fentiman is Queensland Health Minister