Australians have been warned they are putting “the entire community at risk” after the country recorded its worst flu season to date.
Some 352,782 confirmed cases of influenza have been reported to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System so far this year.
This is an increase of more than 20 percent from last year’s figure of 289,133 confirmed cases.
Australia’s previous peak flu season was in 2019, when 313,454 cases were recorded.
Immunization Coalition chair Dr Rodney Pearce said this year’s figures should serve as a “wake-up call”.
“The flu is not just a bad cold; it can have serious consequences, especially for vulnerable populations,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Yet our surveys indicate that many Australians are disengaged and believe vaccination is not necessary.
“This puts the entire community at risk.”
Flu vaccination rates are at their lowest national levels since reporting to the Australian Immunization Register became mandatory in 2021.
Between March 1 and October 6 this year, 8,786,233 people in Australia were vaccinated against flu. During the same period last year, 9,331,570 vaccinations were recorded.
A national survey of 25,000 people conducted by the Immunization Coalition in March this year found that only 54 percent of respondents believed the flu was a serious illness.
A similar number (55 percent) said they did not view vaccination as a benefit or important, and incorrectly believed that May or June was the ideal time to get a flu shot (54 percent) , despite the season starting in April.
The Immunization Coalition said federal and state governments need to play a bigger role in tackling vaccination rates and misconceptions about the flu and flu shots, by investing more in awareness campaigns to the disease and in resources intended for the public.
Priority should be given to identifying those at higher risk, including parents of children under five, adults aged 65 and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and older, as well as people with specific health problems, the document states.
