Departing Medical Association President of WA warns of declining immunisation rates

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Australian Medical Association is sounding the alarm over a decline in WA's childhood immunisation rates. The organisation's departing President says recent public health campaigns haven't worked and has warned deadly diseases will re-emerge if rates continue to fall.

Transcript

00:00Michael Page is finishing up his term as WA President of the AMA and is using his last

00:07days to sound the alarm over childhood vaccinations.

00:09If our vaccination rates for children drop much lower, we will be sort of sitting below

00:15a herd immunity threshold for some of these childhood illnesses and we will see them spread

00:19and we will see long-term disability and death in children.

00:22Dr Page says diseases like measles, diphtheria and whooping cough will return if the government

00:27doesn't make vaccinations its top public health priority.

00:31They've never seen them so they don't understand that they are actually very serious, very serious

00:35illnesses and if you've never seen it, maybe there's a bit of complacency there.

00:40WA's childhood vaccination rates lag behind the country at every age.

00:44For one and two-year-olds, WA's rates are the worst in the nation.

00:48By the time they reach five, WA kids rank third last when it comes to full immunisation.

00:53The vaccinations are absolutely safe.

00:55They've been used for many decades and yet we're seeing a reluctance of parents to vaccinate

01:01their children, which is just extraordinary.

01:03Since 2020, childhood vaccination rates in WA have dropped between two and three per cent.

01:09Experts say misinformation is one of the biggest roadblocks.

01:12Governments need to be putting out communications and addressing misinformation and disinformation

01:17that people are exposed to or particular worries that often emerge in particular communities.

01:22Making vaccinations accessible, in particular for people in the regions, is an ongoing challenge.

01:28If we want our immunisation programs to flourish, it has to be incredibly easy for people to

01:33be vaccinated.

01:34She says despite the AMA's concerns, compared to the rest of the world, Australia is still

01:39well ahead.

01:39She basically wanted to back 가는 road.

01:42And I'm not like something to remember about this.

01:43As you matter, this

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