Aussies urged to get flu vaccine as infections surge

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Flu season looms once again and Australians are urged to get their annual jab, as flu rates surge in parts of the country.

Head of the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control, Professor Paul Kelly, said free vaccines were now available for people most at risk of complications.

“People can get their vaccine at general practices, pharmacies, and immunisation clinics – and in many cases, at their workplace,” he said in a statement.

People are urged to get their flu vaccine this year.

Kelly said that in 2023, the highest flu infection rates were in children under 14 years.

“But concerningly, the vaccine uptake was very low in this population group,” he said.

Meanwhile NSW health data shows flu rates are rising this year already in Australia’s most populated state.

The latest respiratory surveillance report showed more than 4700 people in NSW were diagnosed with influenza in the past four weeks, a 16 per cent increase compared with the previous year.

Children are particularly vulnerable to the illness.

“Last year, we saw an increase in ED presentations among young children with some being admitted to intensive care with life-threatening complications from the flu,” Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said.

“We don’t want to see a repeat this year, so we are reminding families to book their children aged under five years in for their free flu vaccine now.”

NSW hospitals received 480 influenza-like illness admissions between January 6 and April 14, compared to 284 during the same period in 2023.

“In good news, the 2023 vaccine was very effective at protecting people from needing to go to hospital or visit their GP,” Kelly said.

Kelly said children under five were at increased risk of severe illness or death from the flu.

A total of 39 people died from the flu in Australia last year, nine of them children under 16.

“This was higher than the number of flu-associated deaths in children in 2022 and in many pre-COVID-19 pandemic years,” Kelly said.

“This is a tragic reminder that the flu is not the common cold, which people often mistake it for. It is a serious virus that can cause severe illness, hospitalisation and death among otherwise healthy children and adults.”

He urged everybody over six months old to get their vaccine dose.

People eligible for free flu vaccine doses include children aged six months to under five years, pregnant people, Indigenous Australians, people aged 65 years or older, and people with certain medical conditions that put them at greater risk.

For convenience and if recommended, COVID-19 vaccines can be given at the same time.

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