Advertising


News

New figures confirm positive outcomes for vaccine adherence


Morgan Liotta


28/11/2018 11:01:01 AM

The AIHW has released a series of factsheets on vaccine-preventable diseases, detailing impacts and rates of infection, hospitalisation and vaccination throughout the country.

According to the AIHW, several vaccine-preventable diseases are now rare in Australia, demonstrating the impact of vaccines.
According to the AIHW, several vaccine-preventable diseases are now rare in Australia, demonstrating the impact of vaccines.

A new series of factsheets from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) looks at the impacts of the 17 diseases for which the National Immunisation Program (NIP) provides eligible recipients funded vaccines.
 
Each factsheet includes the number of cases reported for each disease, hospitalisations and deaths.
 
The AIHW has found that 94% of one-year-olds and five-year-olds were fully immunised in 2017, while 90.5% of two-year-olds were fully immunised in the same period.
 
These figures show that immunisation coverage for one-year-old and five-year-old children has increased since 2008 and is on track to contribute to meeting the Government’s target of 95% overall immunisation to establish herd immunity, despite some vaccine hesitancy across the nation.

The AIHW has stated that several vaccine-preventable diseases are now rare in Australia, and hospital admissions and deaths – especially in the most vulnerable populations, the very young and very old – have significantly reduced as a result of increasing immunisation rates.
 
Disease snapshots from some of the AIHW factsheets include:

  • In 2016, there were more than 12,000 hospital admissions in Australia due to influenza, with higher admission rates among children aged <5 years and adults aged >65 years. Of the 2316 deaths from influenza between 1997 and 2016, 1847 (80%) were adults aged >65 years.
  • In 2017, there were 10 notifications of rubella in Australia, with notification rates falling significantly since the introduction of a second dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for school-aged children in 1992. The World Health Organization declared rubella was eradicated from Australia earlier this year.
  • In 2016, there were 395 hospital admissions for chickenpox in Australia, of which 101 (26%) were in children aged <15 years. Since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccination, hospital admissions rates for children aged <15 years have fallen significantly.
  • In 2016, there were 245 hospital admissions for meningococcal disease in Australia, with hospital admission rates decreasing since the introduction of vaccination against serogroup C in 2003. Between 1997 and 2016, meningococcal disease caused 396 deaths in Australia, one third (32%) of which were in children aged under five years.
  • In 2016, there were 20,106 notifications of whooping cough in Australia, with close to one in 33 cases in infants aged under 12 months. In 2017, more than 12,000 cases of whooping cough were notified to public health authorities.



AIHW National Immunisation Program vaccination vaccine-preventable disease


newsGP weekly poll Which of the RACGP’s 2024 Health of the Nation advocacy asks do you think is most important?
 
70%
 
4%
 
5%
 
10%
 
9%
Related




newsGP weekly poll Which of the RACGP’s 2024 Health of the Nation advocacy asks do you think is most important?

Advertising

Advertising


Login to comment