Understanding Parents, Communities and Vaccination

About the Project

Lately we’ve heard a lot about vaccination in the media, on social media, and perhaps even spoken about among friends and family, with a lot of attention focused on parents who choose not to vaccinate their children.  A lot of assumptions are made about parents who decide against vaccination, but there are very few recent Australian studies, especially large national ones, that have really tried to understand in any depth how some parents come to decide against vaccination. This means that most of the initiatives to date, such as legislation changes barring unvaccinated children from childcare and withholding support payments from their families, are based largely on assumption and speculation.

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What we do know is that this is a very complex issue, and being able to find the right way forward is being hampered by a lack of understanding of the views of parents who choose not to vaccinate.

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The UPCaV study will interview parents from all over Australia who have decided not to vaccinate their children, to learn how they came to their decisions. Once we have a better understanding of why parents decide not to vaccinate, we will use what they have told us to come up with suggestions for ways to respond to vaccine rejection, and then hold consultations with a variety of groups who hold a variety of viewpoints, including groups of parents who chose not to vaccinate, groups from the general public, and groups of policy makers and health care professionals to discuss which approaches are acceptable to as many people as possible, while also being practical and ethical.

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Briefly, the research plan is as follows:

2017–2018    PHASE I: Interview non-vaccinating parents from all over Australia.

2018–2021    PHASE II: Dialogue Groups with non-vaccinating parents and Community Panels (sometimes called community Juries) to discuss and refine possible approaches to vaccine rejection, which are acceptable and ethical. An online survey with public health practitioners has also been conducted.

2020–2021    PHASE III: Develop resources, based on the findings of the first two study phases.

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This study is a national collaboration between researchers from the University of Sydney, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and Macquarie University. The chief investigator team includes Professor Julie Leask, Professor Stacy Carter, Professor Paul Ward, Professor Lesley Barclay, and Dr Chris Degeling.  The primary researcher that you’re most likely to speak to is Dr Kerrie Wiley.

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Phase 1 of the study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Sydney [number 2017/500]. Phase 2 of the project has been approved by the HREC at the University of Wollongong [number 2019/244].