Why are our flu vaccination rates increasing?

The FREE flu vaccination for children under five has reduced last year's vaccination rate to more than five times the previous year, health experts said.

In a report published in the Medical Journal of Australia Today, health researchers from across the country have found that free flu vaccines have increased childhood vaccination rates, but improvements are possible, especially for this time of year. .

Mail-Mail this month, influenza cases reported in Queensland have soared to more than half from last year, experts anticipating a horror season and thousands of deaths across the country.

By 2018, all states and territories with the exception of the NT-funded influenza immunization programs, which provide almost universal, free vaccines, have revealed that vaccination rates have increased from one year to the next. about 5% in 2017 to about 25% in 2018.

"Hospitalization rates for influenza are highest among young children, with annual rates of about 100 per 100,000 among those aged 6 to 23 months," the authors wrote.

"National immunization coverage for young children increased in 2018 to 25.6% overall and 29.5% for Aboriginal children, five times more for non-Aboriginal children and twice as much for Aboriginal children compared to to 2017. "

The researchers said that universal vaccination programs achieved higher coverage than targeted programs, but that the increase in coverage could also be due to increased awareness of influenza after the severe 2017 season.

"It will be interesting to see if the increases are maintained in 2019 given the milder 2018 season," they wrote.

The team identified barriers to better adoption of the influenza vaccine in young children, including "insufficient awareness of the potential severity of the disease, uncertainties about the safety and efficacy of the influenza vaccine, concerns about the growing number of vaccines accessing immunization services ".

They made three recommendations, urging all immunization service providers to incorporate the following into their practice: providing rapid access to annual influenza vaccination for all children aged 6 months to under five, ensuring to receive a second dose during the first year of vaccination.

Second, provide factual information on the benefits of influenza vaccination, correcting any misconceptions, and ensure that all vaccinations administered, including all influenza vaccines, are recorded in the Australian Immunization Register.