Australia's Vaccinations Will Decrease In Coming Months Due To Hesitation

 

CREDIT: Sonia Hickey/sydneycriminallawyers.com.au

A leading vaccine communication has warned Australian's to expect the decrease of vaccinations in coming months due to the increasing rate of hesitancy.

She is urging the health policy to reach this group to stop their lives becoming too difficult or drive them away from healthcare.

The latest data showcases 20.3% of the population and unsure about the vaccine or unwilling.

Up until the 20th AUgust, the "unwilling" proportion rose from 9.2% to 11.8%, whereas the portion of the population who said they "don't know" if they get the jab reduced from 8.1% to 6.2%.

Professor Julie Leask has stated that a balance must be struck between freedoms for those fully vaccinated and not making like overly onerous for those choosing not to vaccinate.

She also explained she understands the anger and frustrations some individuals are expressing towards those choosing not to vaccinate.

"What those people who choose not to vaccinate represent to us right now is a resistance to escaping from hardship, and from escaping a whole lot of things like lockdown."

She said it was important to remember those who are hesitant "are humans, they're citizens."

"They're not just the ratbag lockdown protestors, they're often reasonable people with genuine fears about vaccination, and for many of them, those fears may reduce and shift over time."

For those who are staunchly unwilling to vaccinate, sophisticated communication strategies will be implemented if Australia wishes to reach high vaccination coverage of 90%.

"The solutions that work with the remainder of unvaccinated people will be different to the ones that were needed for getting the first 60-80% of the population vaccinated. And they'll need to be tailored based on a solid understanding of why people aren't vaccinating and what they need to support their decision-making."

"I'm quite concerned about these people who will choose to remain unvaccinated because life will be harder for them."

"But there are situations where the risks are not as high and less restrictive options, such as requiring unvaccinated people to get tested and then allowing them to travel if they show a negative test, might be available instead of banning them altogether."

"The evidence shows that if you require something inconvient, such as producing a negative test, which is inconvenient to get, that can actually produce quite high vaccination rates in and of itself. People get sick of it after a while and it's easier to get vaccinated."

Leask explained she was already receiving emails from individuals claiming they'll quit their job if their employer requires vaccinations. She also feared what unemployment would then mean for families.

"There are people like this in the workforce, and governments and employers also need to think about planning for the loss of those people."

She is confident that Australia could aim high and reach 90% vaccination coverage.

"We won't see it until next year if we do reach that level. But to reach those high goals we need to look to the evidence for what works to reach people. And over time we should be prepared that the remaining group of unvaccinated will be harder to reach or more reluctant."

"These hardcore vaccine refusers will always think COVID is not severe, or not around, or it's being misdiagnosed, or it's a conspiracy to make people vaccinate. That's why you can't have conversations with them because you don't even share the same fundamental assumptions about what's happening."

She explained it was becoming clear that incentives like lottery entries as rewards for vaccinating didn't work when referred to significantly boosting vaccination rates in these groups.

"Incentives don't overcome barriers to access of vaccines in remote areas. They don't overcome difficulties with booking appointments through complex online systems, they don't overcome the need for a Medicare card when you make an appointment, or overcome concerns about vaccination safety."

Professor Anthony Scott, who is a health economist with the Melbourne Institute that leads the Vaccine Hesitancy Tracker has said, "We have found that it is mostly about safety and effectiveness of vaccines and potential side effects that people are most worried about."

"Some people who may have been unwilling might have changed to just being unsure as more information has come out."

"When you look at childhood vaccination and those not willing to get kids vaccinated, they are a very hard, immovable group, but I think with COVID we are seeing at the moment more of an ability to change people's attitudes."