Summary

This report presents results from the 2010 Pandemic Vaccination Survey conducted in January and February 2010 by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The survey provides estimates of the uptake of swine flu vaccination by Australians, along with the motivation for, and barriers to, vaccination.

The survey showed that, up to the end of February 2010, the swine flu vaccination uptake was estimated at 18.1% of the total population (about 3.9 million people).

Some of the reasons people gave for wanting to get vaccinated included the seriousness of swine flu (24.7%), doctor’s advice (16.8%), employment-related reasons (13.7%) and being in an at-risk group (10.9%).

The survey showed that more than half of all adult Australians (50.7%) were not intending to get vaccinated for swine flu. The main reasons for not getting vaccinated included that swine flu was not a serious risk to their own health (26.7%), the vaccine had problems (15.7%), vaccination was not a priority for them (10.9%) and the threat of swine flu had already passed (11.6%).

Among those who had not been vaccinated already, more than 1 in 4 adult Australians (28.8%) intended to get vaccinated before the 2010 winter season.

There appears to be some state variation in vaccination uptake, ranging from 23.5% in Tasmania (23.5%) to 15.0% in Western Australia; however, only Tasmania had a statistically significant different rate from the national average (18.1%).

The major barriers to vaccination uptake included the perceived problems with the vaccine (such as side effects and the vaccine was unsafe) and the perception that swine flu is not a serious health risk.