KEY POINTS
- Two children have died from the flu, and more than 1,230 people have been hospitalised with the illness this year.
- Experts have urged people to get flu jab amid a fall in vaccination rates.
- One expert says lower vaccination rates could be because of vaccine fatigue.
The deaths of two children from a strain of influenza have sparked urgent calls for people to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated.
An 11-year-old Sunshine Coast girl died on Wednesday, which followed the death of a student on NSW's Central Coast on Tuesday just days after health officials urged the community to get vaccinated.
Doctors are reporting and hospitalisations amid lower vaccination rates compared to last year.
What is influenza and what are the symptoms?
Professor Frank Beard, associate director at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said influenza is an infection caused by a virus.
Beard said the two main types are influenza A and B, and symptoms can include high fever, sore throat, blocked nose, aches and pains, and tiredness.
"There's a lot of other viruses that can cause similar symptoms but tend not to be as serious as influenza which can cause complications like pneumonia, inflammation of the heart, inflammation of the nervous system," he said.
Dr Kirsty Short, a virologist at the University of Queensland, said there are distinct differences between the two strands of influenza.
"We just have what we would call two lineages of influenza B, where there is a plethora of influenza A," she said.
"The other thing about influenza B is that we don't worry about it from a pandemic point of view because it doesn't really spill from animals into humans, it's really a human-specific thing."
Is influenza serious for children?
As of 25 June, there had been 1,236 flu hospitalisations in Australia and 107 deaths, according to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
The data shows influenza rates have been highest in people aged 5 to 9 years old, followed by those aged 0 to 4 years old, and those aged 10-14 years.
Some 69 per cent of people admitted with confirmed influenza across hospitals were children aged younger than 16 years.
Last week, New South Wales emergency departments recorded a 37 per cent increase in patients with flu-like illnesses, with more than half of them aged under 16.
Since May, 16 children in the state have been admitted to intensive care at three major hospitals with life-threatening complications from flu, including serious heart, brain, and muscle-related issues.
Do children need to get vaccinated for influenza?
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant has issued a warning about the seriousness of the viral disease, especially for young people.
Chant urged parents to get their children vaccinated before school returns.
"What we're actually seeing this year is a significant impact on our 5 to 16-year-olds or our school-aged children," she said.
"This is in part related to the type of influenza that is circulating, influenza B, and that type tends to be associated with a greater impact on school-aged children."
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has urged people to get vaccinated for influenza. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
"The concern in children would be because there wasn't any influenza B circulating last year, and there wasn't any influenza at all in 2020 and 2021," he said.
"(This) means that children would be more likely not to be exposed to influenza B before, as opposed to adults who have had various infections over the years, including A and B, and also vaccination which can contribute to immunity as well."
Professor Beard said influenza should be treated as the serious and life-threatening disease it can be.
"Influenza can still cause severe disease and death in healthy adults (and) healthy children, which is why we recommend people get vaccinated every year because influenza is a potentially lethal infection," he said.
"Vaccination is even more strongly recommended for people who are in those particularly high-risk groups - like smaller children, older adults, and people with medical conditions.
"But it's recommended across the board because it can still be a nasty disease."
Why aren't Australians getting vaccinated?
Nearly 2 million fewer Australians have received an influenza vaccination this year compared to the same March to July period last year.
According to the Australian Immunisation Register, 8.5 million Australians received influenza shots in the period from the beginning of March to 9 July this year.
That's compared to the more than 10 million Australians who received over the same period last year.
Vaccine fatigue could be one of the reasons behind this decline, Dr Short said.
"We've gone through a lot over the past few years, and been asked to get a lot of vaccinations and a lot of boosters, and maybe the flu doesn't feel like such a threat," she said.
"But it is really important to get vaccinated every year because the vaccine gets updated annually."
She said this is particularly important for very young children aged under five, elderly people, and those who are immunocompromised.
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from six months of age; children aged six months to under five years; pregnant women; people aged 65 or over; and people with certain medical conditions.
Otherwise, it can cost between $20 and $30 at a pharmacy.
- With the Australian Associated Press.
