• Glenda L Lawrence, Brynley P Hull, C Raina MacIntyre, and Peter B McIntyre.
• National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, University of Sydney and The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales. glendal@chw.edu.au
• Aust Fam Physician. 2004 Jul 1;33(7):568-71.

BackgroundIncomplete immunisation among Australian children may be due to parents disagreeing with immunisation rather than medical contraindications or access issues.Setting And MethodsThe parents of 1338 children recorded on the ACIR as incompletely immunised were telephoned and interviewed.ResultsOf the 462 parents who confirmed their child was incompletely immunised, 270 (58%) disagreed with or were concerned about immunisation; 190 (70%) of these were concerned about vaccine side effects. The disagreeing 270 parents were significantly more likely to be highly educated and have a child with no vaccinations recorded on the ACIR. No vaccinations were recorded on the ACIR for 81% of children of both these parents, and of parents registered as conscientious objectors to immunisation. Together these two groups accounts for 2.5-3.0% of the annual birth cohort.DiscussionIn order to achieve the 95% immunisation rates necessary for disease control, tailored approaches to promote immunisation among parents are required.

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