Do you have vaccination fatigue?

Flu numbers hit a record high in Australia in 2025, with 410,000 lab-confirmed cases reported, a stark rise from the 365,000 cases in the previous year.¹

With national vaccination rates decreasing, Australian health authorities are urging people to access flu jabs to get ahead of a dangerous rise in serious illness.

But why aren’t more Aussies getting the flu shot? And could vaccination fatigue be playing a role?

Described as a sense of apathy towards jabs, vaccination fatigue can lead to avoidance of immunisations.

Driven by feeling overwhelmed by information, distrust of vaccines, fear of possible side effects, or simply disbelief in serious illness, vaccination fatigue has been flagged as a threat to herd immunity.²

Herd immunity is a stage at which it’s hard for a disease to affect a group of people because of high immunisation rates against that disease within the community.

If fewer people are vaccinated against a disease, it can spread more easily and affect a whole region.³

This can have serious consequences, says Professor Raina MacIntyre, Head of Biosecurity at UNSW and author of Vaccine Nation.

“We have falling rates of all vaccines, including routine childhood vaccines,” says Professor MacIntyre. “We are already seeing larger epidemics of measles around the world and in Australia, where our measles vaccine rates are now low enough to threaten our measles elimination status.”

Australia was declared measles-free in 2014, but imported cases, coupled with dropping vaccination rates, saw 168 reported cases in 2025.⁴

While declining vaccination numbers suggest Australia might be suffering from vaccine fatigue, Professor MacIntyre says it’s more complicated than simply not bothering to get a jab.

“I don’t think it [a drop in vaccination rates] is vaccine fatigue. Rather, it's constant and substantial vaccine misinformation and disinformation, linked to push-back against COVID-19 public health measures and the use of mRNA technology, which has driven rising vaccine hesitancy around the world.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the speed of vaccine development led some people to feel uncertain or concerned. Questions such as how a vaccine could be developed so quickly, whether it was safe, and what the long-term side effects might be were commonly raised.⁵

Some people believed the technology was entirely new, which contributed to misinformation about how the vaccines were created.⁶

Research suggests that psychological factors such as anxiety, fear of disease, and negative responses to pandemic control measures may contribute to vaccine hesitancy, which in turn could influence people’s willingness to be vaccinated against COVID19 and potentially other diseases.^7,8

So, what’s the solution?

Professor MacIntyre says that clearer messaging about vaccinations as part of our general health care and health promotion, and about shutting down misinformation trails faster, might be a way to increase vaccination rates again.

“I think the biggest challenge is the epidemic of vaccine misinformation and disinformation that has swamped the world, spreading almost unchallenged. We need tools for real-time tracking of disinformation that enable real-time countermeasures.”

Demystifying vaccines and providing accurate information about how they work and their benefits is part of the Australian government’s National Immunisation Strategy 2025-2030, which was launched in response to declining vaccination rates.

Working with healthcare professionals, health experts, state and territory governments and the community, the strategy prioritises improving access and equity to immunisations and building community trust and understanding about vaccines.

Access is key, says Professor MacIntyre. “For working adults who do not see a GP as often as older adults or children, workplace vaccination makes it accessible, just like the provision of vaccines in pharmacies has made it more accessible for busy, working people.”

If you have questions about any vaccination or would like to know more about how immunisation works across the community, talk to your GP or read about the National Immunisation Program Schedule here.