The number of babies born in some public hospitals has dropped to their lowest levels in more than a decade – sparking a conspiracy.
4 min read – June 20, 2023 – 5:43PM
New data has shown Australia will suffer a population slowdown….
Covid fear will see birth rates…
New data has shown Australia will suffer a population slowdown as couples decide against having children due to the coronavirus crisis.
The number of babies born in NSW public hospitals has dropped to their lowest levels in more than a decade, new data can reveal.
According to the Bureau of Health Information, just 15,868 babies were born in public maternity wards between January and March 2023, the lowest of any quarter since records began in 2010.
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This decline comes after a slight ballooning of births during the pandemic – thanks to an increase in conceptions during Covid-19 lockdowns – when the number of babies born in NSW public hospitals peaked at 19,081 between April and June 2021.
Australian National University demographer Dr Liz Allen said the drop in births was due to a combination of factors, both personal and external – in particular, concerns about housing, cost of living, and climate change.
“Climate change has been cited by young people in Australia, and other similar countries, as a major concern and barrier to having children,” Dr Allen told news.com.au.
“The fear of uncertainty owing to growing weather and climate extremes means young people are calling it quits on children citing ethical concerns.”
She said cost of living pressures, housing affordability, insecure employment, and gender inequality “all make for pretty solid contraception for young Australians”, too.
But her expert analysis was hijacked by anti-vaxxers who falsely claimed Covid vaccines were the reason for the decline.
Taking to Twitter, controversial Gold Coast entrepreneur Jamie McIntyre rejected Dr Allen’s analysis that concern for climate change had factored into family planning.
McIntyre – a “self-help guru and motivational speaker” – claimed the “dramatic drop off in births” had come “since a certain not so safe, effective, or necessary vaccine was forced upon the elderly, pregnant mums, and even children”.
There is no evidence the Covid-19 vaccines cause any problems with pregnancy, or fertility problems in males or females, or any future fertility in children, according to the federal Department of Health and a number of international studies.
In fact, the department reports contracting Covid while pregnant – and unvaccinated – poses a greater risk of harm to the mother and foetus.
Research compiled by Vicki Male, a senior lecturer in Reproductive Immunology at Imperial College London, found Covid-19 vacancies did not increase a person’s likelihood of having a miscarriage, neither did it change ovarian function, egg quality, fertilisation, or clinical pregnancy rate for IVF patients.
Some users suggested the apparent sharp drop-off in birth rate could be due to the fact the data is “incomplete”, and noted that other countries had seen an increase in births after the pandemic and mass vaccine up take – contrary to McIntyre’s claims.
Our neighbours in New Zealand bucked years of decline in 2022, with fertility rates increasing to 1.69 births per female – almost to the pre-pandemic 1.71 rate – according to NZ government statistics.
Almost 90 per cent of child-bearing age women were vaccinated in New Zealand.
The government data found the fertility rate did drop again slightly to 1.65 for New Zealand women in 2023, however fertility rates of Maori females continued to climb.
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