Background: The number of measles cases has greatly decreased since the introduction of a national immunisation scheme. However, the success of the program has been curtailed by the activity of a vigorous anti-vaccination movement, aided by community unfamiliarity with the disease. While parental knowledge of, and attitudes toward both disease and vaccinations are known to influence vaccine uptake, the contribution of these factors toward vaccination rates in NSW populations has not been studied.
The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and opinions on the measles disease and MMR vaccine between immunisers and non-immunisers in NSW Central and North Coast regions.
Method: Parents (n=201) of children <12 years were surveyed in the Central Coast and North Coast. A purpose designed survey, piloted amongst n=6 subjects, was conducted amongst participants at public beaches at the Central Coast and community markets at the North Coast.
Results: The questionnaire was completed by 102 parents from the Central Coast and 99 from the North Coast. Eight percent (17/201) of respondents reported not immunising their child with the MMR vaccine, with a non-significant difference in prevalence of non-immunisers between the Central and North Coast (n1=4.9% vs n2=12.2%, p=0.077). Most respondents recognised that measles is a highly contagious disease (191/201) and were able to name “fever” (131/201) or “rash” (149/201) as symptoms of the illness. Non-immunisers were found to be older (mean age 41 vs 36, p=0.006) and had a lower perceived severity of measles (4/10 vs 8/10, p<0.001). Non-immunisers were also more likely to disagree that the MMR vaccine was effective (35.3% vs 1.8%, p<0.001) or safe (64.7% vs 1.8%, p<0.001), and were more likely to have encountered someone who had suffered side-effects of the MMR vaccine (52.9% vs 8.3%, p<0.001).
Conclusion: These results suggest that there is considerable concern over safety of the MMR vaccine amongst non-immunisers. Improving confidence in the MMR vaccine should be a target of future public health interventions.