6 vaccine trends to watch this World Immunisation Week

World Immunisation Week 2026 (24–30 April) highlights both the progress and ongoing challenges in vaccine coverage – along with the power of immunisation to protect people of all ages against vaccine-preventable diseases.

This year’s theme for every generation, vaccines work, emphasises the lifelong importance of vaccination – from infancy through to adulthood. The theme emphasises not only the individual importance of vaccination, but the collective responsibility to safeguard families, communities and future generations. 

Over the last 50 years, vaccines have saved more than 154 million lives through individuals taking proactive steps towards protecting their health. Yet despite this extraordinary progress, declining vaccination rates and the re-emergence of once-considered controlled diseases have triggered public health concerns.

Here are 6 trends pharmacists should keep in mind.

1. Diphtheria is back

It’s been over 3 decades since Australia has been diphtheria free. But recently, the vaccine-preventable disease has re-emerged due to gaps in routine immunisations – with the first cases being recorded since 1992. 

By the final quarter of 2025, on-time coverage for the second dose of a DTP-containing vaccine in young children was 9.2 percentage points lower compared with the first quarter of 2020 – found the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance’s (NCIRS)  Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2025.

This potentially deadly infection results in swelling of the neck and throat, and can cause breathing problems, while the bacterial toxin can also damage the brain, heart, kidneys and nerves – and was once among the top-ten causes of childhood mortality. 

Globally, routine vaccination rates dropped by 33% during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to increased vulnerability to this infectious disease, and others.

In 2025, the Kimberley recorded its first cases in 50 years, with rates in Western Australia’s far north tripling in the past month – reaching 27 cases.

To combat this increase, health experts have stressed the importance of ensuring at-risk individuals stay up-to-date with booster doses.

‘This is not a disease most doctors have seen so we’re reminding them it does exist, it is now increasing in prevalence,’ said public health physician Gary Dowse.

Curtin University professor of international health Jaya Dantas said the National Immunisation Program funding for the dTpa vaccine should expand.

‘Childhood vaccination is completely free under the scheme, but with the adult one, it’s still not,’ she said.

2. Vaccination rates keep declining

Recent data shows a concerning drop in childhood and teenage vaccination rates –with figures lower than pre-pandemic rates – and a rise in parental hesitancy, with 8.3% of parents in the 2025 NCIRS report not believing vaccines are safe. 

Childhood vaccination rates are currently sitting at 90.5% at 12 months, 88.4% at 24 months, and 92.5% at 60 months, which marks a 2.3–4.3% drop since 2020.

The rates of vaccination occurring within 30 days of the recommended age remains low among young children, while 2 in 10 adolescents don’t receive the HPV vaccine by 15, and 3 in 10 won’t receive the meningococcal ACWY dose by 17.

Pharmacists are essential to reversing this downward trend, reminding patients and parents about catch-up vaccinations and providing evidence for the importance of vaccination in a non-judgemental manner. 

The PSA continues to advocate for a ‘no wrong door’ stance to vaccination. 

‘What [this] does do is increase the convenience for someone to be able to get the vaccine at a time and place of their choosing,’ said PSA’s Head of Policy and Strategy Chris Campbell FPS.

‘There should be an increase in vaccine uptake in children under 5 years of age when there’s an opportunity for an entire family to come to the pharmacy and get vaccinated.’

3. Pharmacist’s busiest flu-vaccine week on record!

Pharmacists continue to demonstrate just how essential they are to vaccine uptake across Australia. 

Over the past week 281,540 doses of the influenza vaccine have been administered surpassing all previous records, according to the latest Australian Immunisation Register data released by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

And in signs that a needle-free flu vaccine might be making an impact, influenza vaccine doses for children 6 months to 5 years of age are up by 30% year-to-date compared to previous years.

4. HPV vaccination success

The Gardasil vaccine protects individuals against HPV and is offered for free to people aged 9–25 under the NIP. 

Early vaccination against HPV has demonstrated success in preventing cervical cancer, with results showing a 40% reduction in cervical precancers. The national cervical cancer rate decreased from 6.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 6.3 per 100,000 in 2021 and in the same year no cervical cancer cases were diagnosed in women under 25 for the first time since records commenced in 1982.

Despite this progress, boosting vaccination rates and improving participation in cervical screening remain crucial. Vaccination rates have declined slightly compared to previous years, indicating that more work needs to be done if Australia is expected to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035.

And the disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the general population remains. While 84.2% of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent females and 81.8% of adolescent males who turned 15 in 2023 received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine by their 15th birthday, coverage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents was lower, at 80.9% for females and 75.0% for males.

5. Maternal and infant RSV vaccination rates have already improved

Last year, the federal government introduced the funded RSV maternal vaccination under the NIP, with some state programs also offering RSV monoclonal antibody nirsevimab for eligible infants and children whose mother did not receive the RSV vaccine. 

A single dose of Abrysvo is recommended for all pregnant women to protect their infant, reducing the risk of severe RSV disease in infants under 6 months of age by an astounding 70%.

Contracting RSV during pregnancy may be associated withearly delivery and low birth weight, with studies suggesting that babies born with RSV are more likely to develop asthma, acute respiratory illnesses and wheezing.

Prior to the rollout, RSV was the leading cause of hospitalisation among infants under 6 months. But in June 2025 this had decreased by 75% through the incorporation of the vaccine into the NIP.

The federal government also announced RSV vaccination will soon be funded for older Australians under the NIP to ensure protection for this vulnerable cohort.

6. What does the future hold for vaccination?

Looking ahead, the future of vaccination in Australia is bright, fuelled by new product developments and modes of administration.

Leveraging mRNA technology for broader disease protection is a crucial component of the future of vaccination, with researchers at Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University pushing beyond seasonal shots to develop a universal influenza vaccine to provide broader and longer-lasting immunity against diverse influenza strains. 

Novel product developments include alternative forms of vaccine delivery that move beyond needles, such as FluMist and emerging intranasal COVID-19 vaccines. These intranasal forms offer a needle-free approach which is set to improve uptake.

The development of combination vaccines will also reduce how often people require immunisation, including efforts to merge protection against COVID-19 and influenza into a single shot aim to simplify vaccine administration.

See the PSA Vaccination (Immunisation) Education Hub for more information.