An Aussie state’s birth rate is worryingly low – as anti-vaxxer trolls pounce on a troubling new graph before being brutally shut down
Falling birth rate in NSW blamed on covid and cost of living
NSW public hospital birth rates have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a decade and new data has blamed Australia’s crisis in living standards.
Just under 16,000 babies were born in public maternity wards in the first three months of this year.
That’s the lowest figure for any quarter since records began in 2010, according to an analysis of Bureau of Health Information data.
The number of babies born briefly during the pandemic reached 19,081 between April and June 2021, primarily due to an increase in pregnancies when people were forced to stay at home.
Just under 16,000 babies were born in public maternity wards in the first three months of this year – the lowest number for any quarter since records began in 2010.
Covid, fear of the cost of living and climate change as well as reduced immigration have all been cited as reasons for the drop off
Dr Liz Allen, a demographer at the Australian National University, said there were many depressing factors discouraging parents from having children.
‘The escalating context of Covid, cost of living, climate change and economic recession is creating the perfect storm,’ Dr Allen tweeted.
He added: ‘Time (and data) shows how Covid has disrupted families; Formation and childbirth. Delayed, accelerated, postponed and forgotten births.’
But his insights were pounced upon by an army of vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists who falsely claimed that the downward trend was caused by the Covid vaccine.
A controversial entrepreneur from the Gold Coast, Jamie McIntyre, claimed the drop-off was a ‘not so safe, effective or necessary vaccine, forced (on the elderly, pregnant mothers and even children)’.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration found no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine causes infertility in men or women or future infertility in children.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration found no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine causes infertility in men or women or future infertility in children.
Dr Allen hit back at his critics, claiming ‘the story of declining births in NSW is a complex social one, not a reductionist anti-vax scaremongering horror story’.
He told news.com.au that ‘recommendation of covid vaccination, or any vaccination for that matter, denies sufficient evidence to biologically contribute to birth reduction and co-opts data in a fear-mongering manner’.
‘It’s a real shame that instead of talking about the real reasons for declining births and how to better support families, ignorant and delusional people are misusing data on falling births to advance unrelated lines of false science.’
Australian government actuary Karen Cutter said the decline in birth rates could also be explained by a lack of migrants coming to Australia during the pandemic years.
‘Immigrants are mostly young, and they tend to have children,’ he said.
‘I suspect that the fertility rate for new immigrants after immigration is much higher than the population average, so the lack of immigration in the last few years may now have a large effect on the birth rate.’
Why vaccines are important
Immunization is a simple, safe and effective way to protect people before they are exposed to harmful diseases.
Immunization protects not only individuals but also others in the community by reducing the spread of preventable diseases.
Research and testing is an essential part of developing safe and effective vaccines.
In Australia, vaccines must pass rigorous safety testing before they can be registered for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). It can take up to 10 years for a vaccine to be approved.
Before vaccines are available to the public, large clinical trials test them on thousands of people.
A large number of high-quality studies over many years have compared the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Medical data on nearly 1.5 million children around the world confirm that vaccines do not cause autism.
People first became concerned about autism and immunization after the medical journal The Lancet published a study in 1998. This paper claims that there is a link between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.
Since then, scientists have completely refuted this paper. In 2010 the Lancet retracted this and printed an apology. The UK General Medical Council struck the author off the medical register for misconduct and dishonesty.
Source: Australian Department of Health
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