Think Tank Calls for ‘Ambitious Targets’ to Close Vaccination Gap

A nurse prepares a COVID-19 vaccine in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 3, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The number of Australians getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and other serious diseases has decreased, a new report found.

Millions of older Australians at high risk of serious illness are not getting vaccinated against COVID, flu, shingles, and pneumococcal disease, according to the Grattan Institute report, A fair shot: How to close the vaccination gap.

“COVID vaccination rates have plunged. In December 2021, more than 90 percent of high-risk adults had been vaccinated for COVID in the previous six months. Today, it is just 27 percent,” reads a statement by the Institute on Nov. 26.

“The consequences are deadly,” said report lead author and Grattan Institute Health Program Director Peter Breadon.

“COVID is still with us, and it’s still causing more deaths and putting more people in hospital than the flu.”

Other than COVID, uptake of other adult vaccines was also “far too low.” Less than half of Australians in their 70s were vaccinated for shingles. Only one in five for pneumococcal disease, which can cause meningitis and pneumonia.

The situation was worse for senior people across certain regions, suburbs, and cultural backgrounds.

It is revealed that people who do not speak English at home were half as likely to have the recommended COVID-19 vaccines, while Indigenous Australians were one-third less likely, and many people in rural areas missed out.

Vaccination rates also “varied dramatically” within capital cities such as Brisbane, with the take-up rate of flu vaccines varying by 30 percent across different parts of the city.

High-risk adult Australians are missing out on recommended vaccines. Credit to Grattan Institute

The report called for a new National Vaccination Agreement between the federal government and the states to set “ambitious targets” in driving up vaccination.

It proposed a vaccine “surge” before winter to ensure as many people are protected as possible, meaning that rules on the time between jabs would become flexible for high-risk groups, regardless of when they had their last jab.

The “surge” would also need government advertising campaigns, which include SMS alerts to Australians at high risk of serious illness, as well as more funding for pharmacists, GPs, and Aboriginal health organisations to reach aged care home residents, cultural groups that are missed out, and indigenous Australians.

“Even before the pandemic, too many adults weren’t getting potentially life-saving vaccines,” the report stated.

“Without a national agenda to reset vaccination, adult vaccination is likely to remain stuck in a rut or even decline, causing needless suffering, death, and healthcare spending.”

Barriers to immunisation founded include forgetfulness, convenience, not being paid for any time off work from side-effects, and misinformation. However, many of the barriers were not attributed to individual attitudes towards vaccines, or even individual choice.

Economist Says Grattan Played a Part in Creating Distrust in Vaccines

The low vaccination rate found by the report has been attributed to the Australian government’s hardline policy of forcing COVID-19 jabs during the pandemic.

“Certain groups supported pushing unproven vaccines onto people using a variety of penalties and punishments just two years ago,” Cameron Murray, chief economist at Fresh Economic Thinking wrote in a post on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

“This directly created the current problem of people losing trust in all vaccines.”

Mr. Murray criticised Grattan Institute for supporting the government’s policy back then.

“Oh. I found one,” he commented under his own post, with a link to the Institute’s 2021 post pushing for a 80 percent vaccination rate among Australians to end lockdowns and reopen the border.