Immunisation in Byron Shire

What an unusual series of encounters with Byron Bay ‘Gav’ and his amusingly inconsistent vaccination views.1 This story does highlight some of the key findings from our recent research with a group of non‐vaccinating parents in the Byron Shire.The Byron Shire in Northern NSW has about 30 000 residents with a well‐established community emphasis on natural health and lifestyle, and a national reputation for lower than average childhood vaccination rates. In 2015–2017 we spoke with 32 parents living in the Byron Shire who had chosen not to vaccinate their children, to understand more about their reasons for this choice. Recent studies with similar aims have also been conducted in well‐defined geographical areas near Adelaide and Perth and more recently through nationally targeted recruitment.2, 3We have learned that parents who make this decision come to it in vastly different ways, that they are in general reasonable, conscientious parents and quite often they review their decision surprisingly frequently.3, 4Perhaps Gav has reached his views through online conspiratorial reading. However, studies in Australia and internationally convincingly refute the concept that passively reading anti‐vaccination messages online or otherwise is the sole cause of vaccine refusal.3, 5