Why some Australian parents aren’t vaccinating their kids

Measles is making a comeback in Australia — and parents not vaccinating their children is one of the reasons. But experts say we’re missing one key point.

You’ve no doubt been hearing a lot about the alarming number of health scares hitting Australia these past few months.

Earlier this week, NSW health authorities issued a warning after one woman became the 30th person to contract the deadly measles virus in the state since Christmas.

Last week, two babies too young to be vaccinated contracted the virus.

As we speak, North Sydney Boys High is bracing for a measles outbreak after a woman infected with the deadly illness spent more than an hour in the school’s uniform shop.

Measles is re-emerging as a global program in the developed world. Japan, the US, Canada, parts of Europe and New Zealand are all facing measles outbreaks on a scale not seen for decades.

It’s a commonly-held belief that the anti-vaxxer movement is single-handedly responsible for these alarming resurgences, fuelled by loud online anti-vax voices and a string of Hollywood celebrities — including the President of the United States — vocalising their opposition to vaccinations.

These voices tend to form a stereotype of the non-vaxxer — white, privileged, Gwenyth Paltrow-esque California mums who would rather douse their kids in essential oils than take them to a medical professional.

To an extent, these anti-vaxxers are indeed part of the problem in Australia. But experts say there’s more to the issue than that.

WHO EXACTLY ISN’T GETTING VACCINATED?

There are two broad groups of parents who aren’t vaccinating their children in Australia.

The first group is the non-vaxxers — parents, not necessarily bound to the activist movement, who consciously choose not to vaccinate their children.

Data shows these parents mostly tend to be wealthier and based in either affluent inner-city suburbs or from alternative regions.

The overall vaccination rate against measles in Australia currently sits at 94.7 per cent. But Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that in the affluent Sydney suburbs of Mosman, North Sydney and Manly, it dips down to 88 per cent.

The inner Sydney postcode 2000 — which covers the CBD, Millers Point, Haymarket, Dawes Point and The Rocks — likewise has one of the worst childhood vaccination rates in the state.

In coastal parts of the Richmond Valley in northern NSW, it’s down to less than 82 per cent. In Byron Bay, only 60 per cent of all five-year-olds are vaccinated.

Byron Bay’s vaccination rate is notoriously low next to the national average.

It’s a similar story in Melbourne, where four of the city’s wealthiest suburbs had the worst child vaccination rates in the state of Victoria.

Perth’s wealthy are also in the firing line, with the affluent suburbs of South Perth, Kensington and Subiaco lagging behind the rest of the metropolitan area.

Similar patterns can be seen around the world. Southern California, for example, sees notably low immunisation rates in the affluent areas of Newport Beach and the Bay area.

According to Professor Julie Leask, a social scientist specialising in vaccination uptake at the University of Sydney’s Nursing School, parents in this category tend to be influenced by their social networks, where each other’s beliefs about vaccine safety can be reinforced.

Prof Leask — who recently helped launch the Talking About Immunisation website for people both for and against vaccinations — explained it’s often bound up in peer influence.

“These are objectors who are just genuinely really mistrusting of the government and conventional medicine,” she told news.com.au. “We’ve been doing research with parents who refuse to vaccinate, and what we find is the individual parents who aren’t activists are just wanting to do the right thing by their kids.”

She said in wealthier areas, choosing not to vaccinate can be seen as “slightly more of a social norm” and the sign of a parent who’s “highly conscious of what goes into their child”.

Prof Leask also said they have expectations that their child will be treated individually, and can feel patronised by government and health authorities. Many report also having negative experiences with the helath care system.

But she insists it’s a mistake to assume these parents — no matter how scientifically misguided their views are — are single-handedly responsible for these worrying outbreaks.

WHERE IMMUNISATION IS STILL OUT OF REACH

While the anti-vax movement is a dangerous public concern, Prof Leask stressed that the parents in this category — while they dominate the media coverage — are actually in the minority of non-vaccination cases in Australia, by around a 4-to-6 ratio.

The larger issue, statistically speaking, is with people who don’t get vaccinated not because they consciously don’t want to, but because they lack the opportunity or just being late.

“We have this tendency to look for patterns that outrage us, so it’s easy to focus on the more affluent regions. But what we don’t see in that map is the poorer regions that also have lower vaccination rates, nor the differences between population groups which can be much larger,” she said.

“People who don’t have the means or are late for vaccinations are the main issue here. The more likely scenario is that a child was sick at the time, and the doctor said no, just wait it out. Or they were born overseas and need to catch up on the Australian schedule, which can be quite complex.

“Or they’re from a large family witha single mum who’s homebound and may not have easy public transport. Or a rural-dwelling family in a regional town where there is only one general practice.”

Experts say the majority of people who don’t get vaccinated in Australia don’t fail to do so out of conscientious objection.

Less affluent parts of southwestern Sydney, for example, have similar rates of low vaccinations, but not due to a vaccine objection.

“In Auburn, for example, you’ve got issues where the child has gone overseas or the family has gone to their home country for a long visit, and the kids get behind on their vaccinations,” said Prof Leask.

According to 2017 data, Auburn’s vaccination was only 1 per cent higher than Mosman and North Sydney at 89.1 per cent — still below the national average.

At the same time, children born overseas were found to be more likely to not have no vaccinations recorded, despite their parents not having a recorded objection to them.

She stressed that children, travellers and other adults should make sure to get their shots, including for the flu, shingles and pneumococcal vaccines.