Plea for flu vaccine rollout boost

This article was updated at 5.25 pm on Tuesday 17 July to include information about a Queensland Government announcement to subsidise its influenza vaccines.

Fresh data from the Australian Immunisation Register has revealed influenza vaccination numbers have fallen alarmingly, with the rate plummeting by 17% nationwide in just one year.
 
It found 8.5 million Australians were vaccinated between 1 March and 9 July this year, compared to 10.4 million last year, and 9.1 million in 2020.
 
So far in 2023, more than 156,000 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases have been reported, but GPs predict that number is about to spike.
 
‘We don’t peak until September or October in Australia, and it’s already bad enough now,’ Western Sydney GP Dr Ken McCroary told newsGP.
 
The RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care member is calling for urgent interventions to better rollout the potentially lifesaving vaccine, saying the responsibility of promoting vaccination is falling almost solely on GPs.
 
‘They’re getting frustrated with the ongoing lack of support by health departments and ministries as well, so we need them to be stepping up to assist us,’ Dr McCroary said.  
 
It comes after two children died of influenza this week, an 11-year-old girl from Queensland and a New South Wales teenager, with the B strain placing young people at highest risk.  
 
Governments are now facing increasing pressure to rollout a subsidised vaccine program to increase its accessibility.
 
On 17 July, the Queensland Government announced flu vaccines will be subsidised from 22 July until the end of August, making it free for all residents.
 
More than 51,000 cases have already been reported in the state this year, compared to 44,438 throughout the entirety of last year.
 
Parents have also been urged to keep sick children home from school, with the state’s Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard labelling the outbreak ‘uncharted territory’.
 
RACGP Queensland Chair Dr Bruce Willett welcomed the flu vaccine blitz but said more needs to be done.
 
‘This should be permanent – free influenza vaccines should be available every flu season for everyone. It shouldn’t be a knee jerk reaction,’ he said.
 
Nationally, just 13.7% of all 5–15-year-olds have been vaccinated, the lowest of any age group, but the most at risk.
 
Meanwhile, in residential aged care facilities (RACF), just one third of New South Wales residents have been vaccinated this year, according to the state’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant.
 
Dr McCroary said the RACF vaccination figures are similar across the country and that the drop could be attributed to ‘vaccine fatigue’ following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the skyrocketing cost of living.  
 
‘Now [patients] are having to choose and prioritise between food, clothing, shelter and health,’ he said.
 
‘If the kids are really hungry this week, then they’re going to put off the visits, trying to save some money.’
 
South Australia has experienced the biggest drop in vaccine numbers compared to last year (20.6%), followed by New South Wales (19.5%), Victoria (18.9%), and Queensland (18.6%).
 
Western Australia, where the vaccine was subsidised in May and June this year, saw the smallest drop (5.5%).
 
RACGP WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman told newsGP the subsidy was a success for both patients and GPs.
 
‘It included support for practices to run flu clinics, and a reimbursement of the influenza vaccine for people aged 12–64 who are not eligible for the free National Immunisation Program,’ she said.
 
‘We really need to be encouraging local governments to be working with the general practices within their community or within their state, because I think it really does offer that opportunity to be part of this.
 
‘I think it’s about targeting in different populations in different states, and geographies, and demographics.’
 
Dr McCroary said he promotes the vaccine to his patients whenever possible but pleaded for a more wide-ranging public education program.
 
‘Unless we run a decent education program, the community doesn’t realise the significance of it,’ he said.
 
‘And it’s not just about the admissions. It’s the bereavement and the grief these families have been going through with the preventable deaths of children – it doesn’t get much sadder than that.’
 
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