Australia's chief medical officer has launched a new campaign to combat anti-vaccination myths.

A new film, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe, links the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism.

In response, the Australian Government launched a $5.5 million immunisation education campaign to counter the views of the anti-vaccination lobby with evidence-based information.

“With social media and other channels, those who are critics have more of a voice,” Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

“That's why we're having this campaign, to say to parents, it's safe, it's vital and it will protect your child and it will protect other children.”

The national immunisation rate is 93 per cent, but it drops as low as 60 per cent in some parts of the nation.

“Some of the areas that have lower vaccination rates are the hinterland from the Gold Coast, parts of rural Tasmania, and in particular inner-city Adelaide,” Mr Hunt said.

“What happens is, you can have a message in a community that spreads and our job here to say that message is false, untrue, incorrect.

“As we have seen in Western Australia at the moment, in relation to a [measles] breakout at a local school, there are real risks when you have a community that has a lower level of vaccination.”

The campaign includes a TV commercial featuring parents talking about the death of the child because she was too young to be vaccinated.

“Our baby Dana died from whooping cough. She was only one month old and too young to be vaccinated,” mother Toni McCaffrey said.

Chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy says diseases like polio could return if immunisation rates drop.

“Many young parents wouldn't have been around when the scourge of polio had people in iron lungs, seeing the horrible complications from measles,” Professor Brendan Murphy said.

“Parents need facts and that is what this campaign does. Get the facts.

“Immunisation is incredibly safe, and it does save lives.”