Finding the barriers to childhood influenza vaccination in Australia

In 2025, a nationally representative survey of 2,000 parents, as part of the National Vaccination Insights Project, identified key barriers preventing young children from receiving the annual influenza vaccine.

The results found several barriers to influenza vaccination, with the most prevalent being emotional concerns with vaccination. Two in three parents reported that they felt distressed when thinking about vaccinating their child. More than one in ten parents said they did not prioritise flu vaccination over other commitments, and a similar proportion reported difficulty affording the associated costs.

The findings underscore the need for targeted strategies to support parents, reduce practical hurdles and improve confidence in childhood influenza vaccination.

The National Vaccination Insights Project is a collaboration between Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance located at Kids Research, and the University of Sydney Social and Behavioural Insights in Immunisation research group. As a collaborative, Commonwealth-funded initiative, it will continue to publish data and insights on vaccination barriers and drivers to inform strategies to improve vaccination uptake in different population groups across Australia.

Understanding COVID‑19’s impact on child respiratory illnesses

New research led The Children’s Hospital at Westmead have found how the COVID‑19 pandemic transformed the landscape for respiratory infections in children.

Before the pandemic, acute respiratory infections, especially lower respiratory infections, were among the leading global causes of illness in children. During periods of strict public health measures such as mask‑wearing, school closures and physical distancing, most respiratory viruses declined sharply. As restrictions eased, many viruses returned suddenly and intensely, while others remained lower than expected. These findings suggest that different pathogens were affected in different ways by children and family’s behaviour during and after the pandemic.

Such findings highlight new vulnerabilities in child respiratory illnesses, creating opportunities to strengthen prevention, improve surveillance and help design more resilient healthcare responses for future respiratory outbreaks. 

The research was published in Paediatric Respiratory Reviews, led by the Centre for Paediatric and Perinatal Infection Research at Kids Research.