Childhood Vaccination Research

Australian parents are expected to subject their child to more than 10 vaccinations before the child fourth birthday. However, as the once-common childhood diseases are now become rare in Australia, parents’ disease awareness decrease and their perspectives about vaccine risks and benefits change (Quadri-Sheriff et al. 2012). With immunisation information, the accurate and inaccurate, widely available through a variety of sources such as the Internet, parents can be confused with the overwhelm information and have negative impacts on parental decision making (ECDC 2010). Continued parental acceptance of childhood vaccination is essential for the maintenance of herd immunity and disease prevention (Quadri-Sheriff et al. 2012). As such, understanding

2004).

Health care professionals and health educators were identified as instrumental in the effort to educate and positively influence immunisation, well informed doctors and nurses are the key in preventing parents refusing childhood immunisations. Redsell et al (2010) pointed out that surveys show some parents criticised the information they received about the vaccination from healthcare staff, suggesting it was of poor quality and biased in favour of immunisation. Health care providers need to be more fully prepared to have productive discussions with parents who resist or refuse immunisation. Redsell et al. (2010) recommended that parents and young people should be provided with tailored information, advice and support to ensure they know about the recommended routine childhood vaccinations and the benefits and risks. When parents chose to refuse vaccination, health care providers need to listen carefully and validate why parents may hold a specific belief about

Parents need guidance on how to assess the validity of information from different sources. As internet and social media have undoubtedly become important sources of information, one way healthcare professionals could suggest they do this is to access a recommended websites, for instance The World Health Organization (WHO) established in 1999 the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigour to vaccine safety issues of potential global importance (http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/en/) or Australian Government Department of Health Myths and Realities - Immunise Australia Program which provides evidenced-based research to the common questions that parents have about immunisation. Vaccine-hesitant demonstrates the need for evidence-based support for immunisation programmes. Healthcare professionals responsible for delivering immunisation information need a greater awareness of the different approaches available and how to adapt their advice accordingly (Redsell & Buck