Vaccination rates need to lift ahead of the traditional winter influenza season, they warn.
Unseasonably high flu activity across Australia combined with “dire” vaccine uptake, particularly in the very young and elderly, has prompted a warning from health experts.
While they say it is still too early to predict how bad this year’s official winter flu season will be, all signs are pointing to it being a major problem.
The Australian Science Media Centre held a briefing this week in response to high flu case numbers, which are already tracking above the five-year average.
Latest data from the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System shows there have been 72,360 cases of laboratory confirmed influenza cases in Australia as of 7 May.
Professor Paul Griffin, director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in Brisbane and professor of medicine at the University of Queensland Medical School, said data from the Australian Respiratory Surveillance Report showed there had been 901 hospital admissions due to influenza from 1 January to 20 April this year.
In January there were 26 deaths due to influenza, up from 12 deaths in December. The death rate is showing a concerning trend. In 2024 there were 1002 deaths involving influenza – 67.7% higher than the 599 deaths involving influenza in 2023.
“While a lot of people underestimate the flu at the moment, the impact can be very significant,” Professor Griffin said.
He said while flu cases were relatively high for this time of year already, “we don’t know what this means for the upcoming season but it should serve to highlight the importance of measures to reduce the risks associated with influenza”.
Vaccination and public health measures like increasing handwashing, mask wearing and social distancing where possible were vital messages, said Professor Julie Leask, professor of public health and a social scientist at the University of Sydney’s Infectious Diseases Institute and visiting professorial fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.
“Our influenza vaccination coverage is perpetually low,” she said.
“Some people are being hospitalised or even dying from a disease that is potentially preventable. The vaccine isn’t perfect but it’s much better than zero, which is what you’re looking at if you don’t have a vaccine.”
“Of course, there are other measures to reduce the risk of respiratory infections, but nothing matches the effectiveness of even between 50% and 70%, and even better in children having that vaccine.”
She said data from the NCIRS showed only 62% of Australians aged 65 years and older had received a flu vaccine by the end of 2024, and this was a decline from 2024.
Children aged six months to five years, who are also eligible for a free vaccine, had a vaccine coverage rate of just 28% for that period.
“Our influenza vaccination rates in Australia are dire and they’re not improving,” Professor Leask said.
So far this year, only 32.5% of Australians aged 65 years and older have received a flu vaccine, along with fewer than one in three children.
“We’re not really doing better than the last few years in terms of how we’re tracking so far,” she said.
The Royal Australian College of GPs today joined the calls for patients to get a flu vaccination ahead of the peak influenza months.
RACGP resident Dr Michael Wright said that now was the time to get vaccinated.
“The flu must be taken seriously, and these low vaccination rates should be ringing alarm bells,” he said.
“Earlier this year, we called for action following more than 46,000 lab-confirmed flu cases, a 50% spike compared to the same period last year. We’re also seeing an alarming fall in vaccination rates nationwide compared to previous years, as well as for other respiratory diseases including [covid] and whooping cough.
“I urge all Australians to keep in mind that the flu can not only land you in hospital, but take your life, and it must be taken seriously.”
Dr Wright urged state and territory governments to follow the lead of Queensland and Western Australia and institute free flu vaccination programs.
“The number one step people can take to help keep themselves, their family, and their community safe, is to get vaccinated. Influenza is a serious illness, and the vaccine save lives,” he said.
“Boosting flu vaccination rates for all patients aged over six months of age will make all the difference and please remember that the jab is free of charge for higher risk patients under the National Immunisation Program.
“The Queensland and Western Australian governments are offering free flu vaccines to all patients, and at a time of high cost-of-living pressures, I urge the other states and territories to follow suit.”
Dr Wright warned the nation’s health system could come under tremendous strain, including “our hospitals potentially being pushed to the brink”.
“It was a huge influenza season in the northern hemisphere over Christmas with some UK hospitals overwhelmed,” he said.
“The US also had its largest flu season since 2009 when we had the swine flu pandemic.”
