Vaccination rates falling in BC since COVID-19 pandemic, data shows

A CBC News analysis of provincial data finds childhood vaccination rates have been declining for most vaccines since the pandemic, raising concerns among public health officials about increased susceptibility to the infectious disease.

According to Dr. Jia Hu, interim medical director of vaccination programs at the BC Center for Disease Control, there is no single reason for the decline. He said disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and declining public confidence in vaccines are likely two driving factors.

“I think you know, all of this taken together puts us at increased risk for vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said.

“The decline for some antigens may be in the five percent, 10 percent range. But, you know, it’s still significant and obviously really worrisome.”

urban-rural divide

CBC’s analysis of data covering a 10-year period between 2015 and 2024 found childhood vaccination rates were lower and generally declined more in the Interior and North than in Vancouver and Victoria, where rates were more consistent.

This was especially true in the case of measles.

Canada lost its measles-free status late last year after an outbreak that began in 2024 continued for more than a year, infecting more than 6,000 people.

In B.C., that outbreak was centered in the province’s north-east, where more than 400 people became ill. That region and the northern interior saw declines in measles vaccination rates at ages two, seven, and grade 6.

Provincially, all regions saw declines in coverage between ages two and seven, but rates were stable for Grade 6 students.

Dr. Raquel Kling, medical health officer for Northern Health, said challenges around rural geography, physically making appointments and changing attitudes toward vaccines have contributed to the lack of coverage in the North. But vaccination rates in the Northeast are expected to increase by 70 percent by 2025, he said.

“This shows that people are interested in getting vaccinated and understand that there is a risk of measles spreading in the area.”

impact of the pandemic

Several experts interviewed by CBC said childhood vaccination coverage began declining early in the pandemic.

Dr. Bernie Garrett, professor emeritus at the UBC School of Nursing, doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.

“Especially since COVID, we have a distrust of the government… and pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the things they do, as well as public health institutions. So that’s common and maybe even more so in rural areas,” he said.

“There’s also a bit of anti-intellectualism and distrust among experts, which is associated with vaccine hesitancy. So overall it reflects a broader epistemological shift, I would say, where scientific authority-based knowledge is increasingly being contested, and faith-based knowledge has become more of a priority.”

voting A survey of doctors and nurses conducted by Léger last winter found that vaccine hesitancy among Canadians has increased by 34 to 35 per cent over the past five years. The main reasons cited by health care professionals in conversations with patients were safety concerns, misinformation from social media influencers, and distrust in government or public health.

Vaccination rate has also increased decline In the US, where vaccine-preventable diseases have not been seen for decades sending babies to emergency departments.

Hu described messages from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the efficacy of the vaccines as “a big problem” for public health officials in B.C. because they confuse people about whether vaccines such as human papillomavirus (HPV) are necessary.

“It’s hard to accurately assess the impact of these things on our coverage rates, but you know, I think it’s created a lot of questions among providers and patients alike.”

vaccine refusal

The BC data gives the percentage of two- and seven-year-olds whose parents or guardians refused all vaccines: one per cent for both age groups in 2024. But in some areas, it was higher, notably:

• North Vancouver Island: four per cent for two-year-olds; Three percent for seven year old children
• Central Vancouver Island: four per cent for two-year-olds; Two percent for seven year old children
• East Kootenay: Five percent for two-year-olds; Two percent for seven year old children

There is also a large number of two-year-old children for whom no vaccinations have been recorded. Provincially, the figure increased from seven per cent in 2015 to 11 per cent in 2024, but in some places it was much higher: 25 per cent in the Northeast and 20 per cent in the Kootenay-Border.

This may be due to vaccine refusal, but part of the reason is that vaccinations given by family doctors are not always included in public health data, according to Dr. Monica Naus, a professor in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.

He explained that doctors give vaccination records to parents, who are responsible for turning them over to public health. This does not always happen, so public health records are incomplete. He said that this problem will be eliminated by merging the electronic health records of patients with the vaccination registry.

Another missing data point is children who leave the province. Public health doesn’t always know whether they’ve moved or not, Naus explained, so they may show up in the data as unvaccinated. Both of these things could make B.C.’s vaccination rates appear lower than they actually are, he said.

To turn things around, Hu said it is important for public health officials to build trust in communities and “be as local as possible.”

“I think people can read the science and they can do their own research. But really I think an important part of personal decision making is that someone they trust is recommending it to them, right? And we need more of those trusted messengers.”