Queensland researchers hope a new national survey will expose the fears surrounding vaccinations. Source: AAP
A NEW national survey aims to expose the fears that drive parents to reject or delay vaccinating their children.
THE survey, the first of its kind in almost 20 years, could lead to more effective education campaigns to improve vaccination rates.
University of Queensland researcher Cassandra Dittman says little is known about attitudes held by the current generation of Australian parents. She suspects many parents are probably best described as vaccine hesitant. “I think there’s a broad range of parents sitting somewhere in the middle, and those are the ones we might be able to better support in their decision making,” Dr Dittman told AAP. The survey asks parents about what drives their immunisation decisions, who they turn to for information on vaccines and their beliefs and attitudes about immunisation. “If we know how parents form their opinions, we can start to look at ways to have respectful and open discussions with them about vaccine safety and effectiveness, if that is what is required,” she says. “As a researcher, I understand that vaccines work and are safe. But as a parent of a toddler, when I come across the latest emotive story about the risks or side-effects of vaccinations, my natural inclination … is to worry about what if this happened to my child? “It’s these kinds of attitudes that we want to properly investigate.” The survey also includes a question to gauge attitudes about the federal government’s new policy to refuse welfare payments to parents who fail to have their children immunised. From January 1 next year, all children will have to be fully immunised for their parents to get childcare fee subsidies and family tax benefits. The only exemptions allowed will be for medical reasons. Parents of children aged five years and under can participate in the survey by going to https://exp.psy.uq.edu.au/vax/