Why some parents snub child jabs

New research has shown why some parents do not immunise their babies - and the major reason is simpler than an anti-vaccination attitude frustrating Western Bay vaccinators.
Government-commissioned national research has found that, in most cases, people aren't opposed to immunisation but circumstances simply get in the way.
These include transport issues, children being too ill for their vaccinations or caregivers not believing their children are at risk because they do not see the diseases in the community.
The insight came after a national immunisation expert visited Tauranga recently to help bolster the region's poor childhood immunisation rates.
Health Minister Tony Ryall, who discussed the research at the launch of a new booklet pulling together initiatives used at health boards around the country, has singled out Bay of Plenty District Health Board for languishing at the bottom of national league tables for immunising children under 2.
A national report card released last month showed the Bay ranked last out of the 20 health boards for childhood immunisation in the October to December quarter. It scored only 76 per cent towards immunising 90 per cent of 2-year-olds by July this year and 95 per cent by the same time next year.
An anti-vaccination culture has been partly blamed for the results.
Of the 3113 children who turned 2 between February last year and February this year, 728 were not fully vaccinated - the highest rate in any region nationwide. Of those, 293 children had not been immunised because their parents decided against it.
The health board has stepped up efforts to tackle the problem, hiring a new lay advocate to work with Western Bay parents, as well as other special immunisation co-ordinators. But with 10 per cent of Western Bay parents saying no to immunisation, achieving the Government's target of 95 per cent was presently impossible, said Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation practice manager Donna McArley.
"If we chip away and get more education around vaccination we could effectively get up to 90 per cent - but at this stage we couldn't get to 95 per cent because the decline rate is just too high."
While a strong anti-vaccination culture did exist in the Bay, Ms McArley agreed there were other reasons why the region's rates were poor.
"One of the majors is a lack of understanding about the herd effect for communities. There's still a lot of parents out there who don't realise that immunising not only helps their child but the whole community."
Efforts to improve take-up rates were boosted last month with a visit by Dr Nicky Turner, director of the New Zealand Immunisation Advisory Committee.
Dr Turner said she was impressed with the progress made by health services. "I talked to health providers quite a bit about the common myths that bother parents. Often though, it just comes down to how you communicate with parents."
Childhood immunisation is part of a new health promotion across all GP practices, hospitals and health providers between Waihi and East Cape, where Tuesdays have been declared Immunisation Day. About 1500 immunisation T-shirts have been distributed for staff to wear every Tuesday for the next few months.