Vaccine Uptake

Research area:  Infection and Immunity

Improving vaccine uptake across the lifespan and around the world. 

Billions of dollars are spent developing new, safe and effective vaccines – and yet, millions of people don’t receive recommended vaccines each year. Our group focuses on understanding and addressing the reasons for low vaccine uptake. 

Our aims are to: 

  • Understand the individual, social and practical factors that affect vaccine uptake.
  • Increase vaccine equity for poorly-reached populations.
  • Improve vaccine communication and delivery.
  • Develop and evaluate interventions to increase vaccine uptake in Australia and globally.
  • Inform effective, equitable and evidence-based vaccine policy in Australia.

We have a range of projects that include: 

  • Developing and testing interventions to improve vaccine uptake across the lifespan for special populations such as adolescents with a disability, pregnant women, migrants and refugees, high-risk populations and people in low resource settings.
  • Building capacity in vaccine communication and promotion within Australia and the IndoPacific region. 
  • Establishing an ongoing surveillance program using validated tools to measure vaccine acceptance and barriers to accessing vaccination.
  • Building vaccine confidence by addressing key questions about the safety, immunity and developmental impacts of maternal vaccination. 
  • Evaluating vaccine mandates to inform immunisation policy.

We have a strong interest in communication and community engagement, vaccine confidence, vaccine service delivery innovations and health program resiliency. Our work applies principles from social and behavioural science and uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. 

Groups