The latest WHO/UNICEF estimates of national childhood immunisation coverage have revealed the largest declines in routine immunisation uptake globally in three decades. Through a large-scale retrospective modelling study, we investigate the extent to which vaccine confidence has changed globally using pre- and post-pandemic.
The State of the World’s Children 2023 was developed in collaboration with VCP and using Vaccine Confidence Index data. It reveals that public perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied.
Vaccine confidence in Papua New Guinea is very low compared to other countries. The latest data we have for Papua New Guinea is from surveys conducted in 2022 which showed that 52% of people feel that vaccines are safe and 54% think they are effective. 46% of those surveyed said they believe it’s important for children to have vaccines and 41% feel that vaccines are compatible with their religious beliefs.
To identify knowledge gaps, beliefs and attitudes in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among adults in the Asia-Pacific region, the Vaccine Confidence Project conducted two waves of quantitative research in 2021 and 2022.