Canberra, June 12 -- The Australian government has launched a new five-year strategy to address declining vaccination rates.
Mark Butler, minister for health, on Thursday released the National Immunization Strategy for Australia 2025-2030, saying that it comes at a "critical time" when childhood vaccination rates in Australia are falling.
He said in a speech to the Communicable Diseases and Immunization Conference that vaccination coverage among Australians younger than five has declined for 15 consecutive quarters.
"Even though our childhood vaccination rates are still world-leading, they are trending in exactly the wrong direction and must be turned around," Butler told the conference in South Australia.
He said that childhood vac...