Vaccine Uptake
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.
Research aims
We aim 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.
Our projects
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.
Group Leaders
Team Leaders
Group Members
Our projects
No Jab, No Job project – A COVID-19 vaccine legacy
The No Jab, No Job project is speaking with frontline workers who lost their jobs or were suspended under the COVID-19 vaccine mandates to describe the impacts the mandates had on Australian workers and their families. This project is part of The MandEval Project, supported by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
Read more...
Vaccine Champions Program
Our work in the region includes social and behavioural research into vaccine uptake, vaccine resource development, and a vaccine education and communication training program.
Read more...MandEval
The MandEval Project is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration examining the impacts of, and public responses to, COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The team brings together researchers from fields including political science, medicine, psychology and economics across Australia, France, Italy and the United States, with funding support from the Medical Research Future Fund. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) is a key collaborator, and the Vaccine Uptake team is contributing to research within the project.
Vaccination Insights
Childhood vaccination rates have been declining since 2020 in Australia. Using the Vaccine Barriers Assessment Tool (VBAT), a survey we developed and validated in Australia, we collect annual data on parental barriers to childhood vaccination. We work in collaboration with the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance and the University of Sydney.
Go to the Vaccination Insights site
Guideline for Immunisation Practices in Schools for Students with Disabilities (GIHPS) study
This project established best practice holding and milestones for the vaccination journey.
Key publications:
Vax4Youth
The primary objective of the Vax4Youth study is to explore the extent of young people aged 12-17 years seeking COVID-19 vaccination without parental consent, as encountered in primary health care. In the first phase of this work, we are surveying primary health care practitioners practising in Victoria, Australia, about their experience of young people seeking COVID-19 vaccination without parental consent.
Key publications and resources:
Virtual Reality for Immunisation
This pilot study investigates whether virtual reality (VR) is a feasible and acceptable method for managing needle phobia for immunisation in neurotypical children and children with developmental disabilities, aged 4-14 years.
Completed projects
Vaccine Barriers Assessment Tool (VBAT)
This NHMRC-funded project designed and validated a survey tool to diagnose the causes of under-vaccination of children in Australia. Vaccine uptake requires both acceptance (confidence in vaccine safety and effectiveness, trust in healthcare systems and providers) and access (adequate supply of vaccines, affordability, availability and transport).
The VBAT has a short six-question form and a longer 15-question form. It is the first validated tool to measure both access and acceptance. In 2023, we are collaborating with the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance to apply the VBAT for national and state-wide sentiment surveillance. This information will guide the selection and implementation of cost-effective interventions to increase vaccine uptake.
The VBAT is being adapted and validated in New Zealand for Māori populations, with planning underway to adapt the VBAT for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
Key publications:
Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation (SKAI) across the lifespan
From 2018 to 2021, we developed and pilot-tested a multicomponent intervention package called MumBubVax, which targets expectant parents and antenatal care providers to improve the uptake of vaccines in pregnancy and childhood vaccines. Access the P3-MumBubVax resources.
In 2023 we are expanding and integrating the MumBubVax website into the national Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation (SKAI) Across the Lifespan online hub, in partnership with the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) which is funded by the Commonwealth Government. This new hub will feature resources about vaccines for children and pregnant women, as well as new resources about COVID-19 vaccines for other population groups such as adolescents.
The P3-MumBubVax intervention is also being adapted and pilot tested in Canada, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Immunization Research Network.
Key publications and resources:
Gen V
The world-first, large-scale study of 20,000 mothers and their babies will deliver rapid results and provide data on the longer-term health and developmental outcomes following maternal vaccination for women, antenatal care providers and policymakers.
Key publications:
Enhancing Protection against Influenza and COVID-19 for pregnant women and medically at-risk children (EPIC Study)
The EPIC Study aims to evaluate the impact of multi-component nudge interventions on the uptake of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant women and medically at-risk children. These cohorts are at an increased risk of hospitalisation and death from both COVID-19 and influenza.
The EPIC Study will conduct four randomised control trials investigating the impacts of nudge interventions on vaccine uptake. The EPIC Study was informed by the FluText4U intervention study, which trialled a parent nudge to increase influenza vaccine uptake for children with special risk medical conditions.
FluText4U resources:
DIS-COVER (New strategies to improve protection for adolescents with DISability and optimise vaccine COVERage)
Immunisation programs are significantly less likely to reach and vaccinate young people with disability. This includes human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination which provides a crucial safety net against HPV-related cancers.
The DIS-COVER stream of work comprises several studies that aim to address barriers to access and improve the vaccination experience for young people with disabilities. The main aim of DIS-COVER is to develop the best model of service delivery nursing care with key stakeholders to optimise the delivery of vaccines in specialist schools.
Migrant Immunisation Access (MIA) Project
The MIA project is a mixed-methods study that is focused on exploring under-immunisation among children of migrant parents by identifying gaps in health service delivery, exploring migrant experiences and awareness of immunisation services in the City of Melbourne, Victoria.
In the early phases of the MIA project, we examined migrant children’s immunisation service use, access and vaccination status and immunisation provider workload through surveys and in-depth interviews. In our most recent phase of this project, we co-designed an intervention to optimise childhood catch-up immunisations for migrant children.
The project is a collaboration with the City of Melbourne Immunisation Team, as well as key stakeholders including migrant parents and General Practitioners.
Key publications:
- Chau et al 2024
- Tuckerman et al 2023
- Tuckerman et al 2023
- Tuckerman et al 2022
- Tuckerman et al 2021
- Overmars et al 2022
Other completed projects
- COVID Vaccine Preparedness
- COVID Wellbeing Study – Challenges experienced by families with a child diagnosed with COVID-19
- COVID-19 vaccines for children: supporting parent and child decision-making – Decision support: Helping parents make decisions about vaccinating their children aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19.
- Cohealth Health Concierge Evaluation Study
- Exploring the lived experience of families with a COVID-19 positive child: The journey from a critical grounded theory approach – Kaufman 2023
- Measuring Immunisation in NeuroDiverse Populations (MIND) – Loschiavo et al 2022
- Schools Study
- Vaccine Uptake Symposium 2021 – Vaccine Uptake Symposium 2021 (YouTube)
- Women’s Vaccine Decisions and COVID-19 Study – Oliver et al 2022
Current funders
- Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Australian Department of Health
- Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance (ARIA)
- Australia-Indonesia Centre (AIC)
- MCRI Infection & Immunity Theme
- Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- NSW Health
- University of Sydney
- Victorian Department of Health
Collaborations
Australian collaborators
- Australian College of Midwives
- Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance (ARIA)
- Burnet Institute
- Cancer Council Victoria
- Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation (COSSI)
- Commonwealth, Victorian, NSW and WA Departments of Health
- Kirby Institute
- National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS)
- Monash University
- Telethon Kids Institute
- The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
- University of Adelaide
- University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics
- University of Melbourne Department of General Practice
- University of New South Wales
- University of Sydney
- University of Technology Sydney
- University of Western Australia
- Victorian Department of Education and Training
International collaborators
- Fiji National University
- The Sydney Vietnam Institute (previously known as the Woolcock Medical Research Institute)
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC)
- Universitas of Gadjah Mada
- University of the Philippines
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- WHO Regional Office for Europe
- Yale University, USA
Global vaccine uptake research
- Acacio-Claro PJ, Lota MM, Roxas E, Vidmar S, Abeleda A, Dalisay SN, Landicho M, Fujimori Y, Rosuello JZ, Dato M, Demeterio AM, Kaufman J, Vogt F, Belizario V, Danchin M. Coverage and social and behavioural drivers of routine childhood immunisation in selected regions in the Philippines: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Global Health. 2025;10:e021106.
- Mohamed Y, Overmars I, Tukia O, Luey E, Toluta'u Lomu M, Vodonaivalu L, Tei A, Ofanoa R., Kata ‘U, Leask J, Seale H, Jenkins K, Joshi K, Datt H, Sagan S, Dynes M, Kaufman J, Danchin M. RE-AIM evaluation of a community-based vaccine education and communication program to improve human papillomavirus vaccine uptake in Tonga. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025;5(11), e0005467.
- Kaufman J, Overmars I, Fong J, Tudravu J, Devi R, Volavola L, Vodonaivalu L, Jenkins K, Leask J, Seale H, Mohamed Y, Joshi K, Datt H, Sagan S, Dynes M, Hoq M, Danchin M. Training health workers and community influencers to be Vaccine Champions: a mixed-methods RE-AIM evaluation. BMJ Global Health. 2024;9:e015433.
- Stanberry LR, Makadzange T, James WG, Dietrich JJ, Hotez PJ, Madhi SA, Rosenthal SL, Veller M, Taschner NP, Le Duc JW, Jee Y, Cunningham AL, Danchin M, Leask J. Proposal for a fourth indicator on vaccine uptake in the joint external evaluation tool. Bull World Health Organ. 2025 Mar 1;103(3):226-228.
Drivers of vaccine uptake and strategies to improve coverage
- Kaufman J, Steffens M, Vidmar S, Bolsewicz K, Leask J, Christou-Ergos M, Sabahelzain M, Boxall J, Danchin M. Association of access and acceptance barriers with under- and non-vaccination of children <5 years in Australia: a national cross-sectional survey of parents. Public Health. 2026;250:106082.
- Bolsewicz KT, Steffens MS, Dalton L, Kaufman J, Christou-Ergos M, Sabahelzain M, Beard F, Danchin M, Leask J. Getting more kids vaccinated on time: Strategies and broader policy considerations to address caregiver-identified barriers to childhood immunisation in Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 2025;49(5):100274.
- Kaufman J, Tuckerman J, Bonner C, Durrheim DN, Costa DSJ, Trevena L, Henseler J, Danchin M. Development and validation of the Vaccine Barriers Assessment Tool for identifying drivers of under-vaccination in children under five years in Australia. Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. 2024;20(1).
- Kaufman J, Hoq M, Rhodes A, Measey M, Danchin M. Misperceptions about routine childhood vaccination among parents in Australia, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey study. MJA. 2024; June 3. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.52304
- Lewandowsky S, Schmid P, Habersaat KB, Nielsen SM, Seale H, Betsch C, Böhm R, Geiger M, Craig B, Sunstein C, Sah S, MacDonald NE, Dubé E, Fancourt D, Larson HJ, Jackson C, Mazhnaya A, Dutta M, Fountoulakis KN, Kachkachishvili I, Soveri A, Caserotti M, Őri D, de Girolamo G, Rodriguez-Blazquez C, Falcón M, Romay-Barja M, Forjaz MJ, Blomquist SE, Appelqvist E, Temkina A, Lieberoth A, Harvey TS, Holford D, Fasce A, Van Damme P, Danchin M. Lessons from COVID-19 for behavioural and communication interventions to enhance vaccine uptake. Commun Psychol. 2023 Nov 24;1(1):35.
Vaccine policy and mandates
- Devsam B, Bortolussi K, Tippins J, Vasiliadis S, Danchin M, O'Neill J, Attwell K, Kaufman J. The experience of seeking & granting special medical exemptions for mandated vaccines: A scoping review. Vaccine. 2025;68, 127935.
Vaccine research with priority populations in Australia
- Vasiliadis S, Cook J, Nissan K, Cook W, Hopkins K, Lepage C, Thomson A, Danchin M, Kaufman J. Vaccine misinformation among Arabic-speakers in Australia and the audience and appetite for a game-based intervention. Vaccine, 2025;62:127599.
- Tuckerman J, Mohamed Y, Justice F, Andersson T, Wyatt K, Broun K, Bastable A, Overmars I, Kaufman J, Danchin M. Stakeholder perspectives of immunisation delivery for adolescents with disability in specialist schools in Victoria, Australia: ‘we need a vaccination pathway’. BMC Public Health. 2024;24(1):1973.
- Tuckerman J, Harper K, Sullivan TR, Cuthbert AR, Fereday J, Couper J, Smith N, Tai A, Kelly A, Couper R, Friswell M, Flood L, Blyth CC, Danchin M, Marshall HS. Short Message Service Reminder Nudge for Parents and Influenza Vaccination Uptake in Children and Adolescents With Special Risk Medical Conditions: The Flutext-4U Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2023 Feb 20.
Maternal vaccination
- Carew C, Rak A, Tuckerman J, Pidd D, Vasiliadis S, Danchin M, Kaufman J. A qualitative exploration of Australian women’s vaccination experiences and information needs for routine, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in pregnancy. Midwifery. 2025; 146:104402.