Did you get your flu shot this year? National data shows fewer Aussies are getting the yearly jab

In short: 

It’s peak influenza season but about 540,000 fewer Australians have had a flu shot compared to this time last year. 

A national survey conducted to find out why people were choosing not to get an influenza jab found some thought the flu vaccine would give them the flu, or that it wouldn’t work at all. 

What’s next?

Doctors and epidemiologists say the vaccine is well worth getting because it reduces flu severity and protects people from pneumonia and other illnesses.

It’s peak flu season in Australia but fewer people are opting to get vaccinated against influenza.

Compared with this time last year, about 540,000 fewer Australians have had a flu shot.

The yearly count is at its lowest since 2020, when vaccination data was made available.

The drop is most significant for people aged between 5 and 64 — more than 440,000 people in this age category chose not to get a vaccination this year compared with last year.

Vaccination rates are also lower for under 5s and over 65s.

Federal government data for the first two weeks of July indicates more respiratory illness this year than last year. 

The latest Australian Respiratory Surveillance Report said influenza cases have risen steeply since late April 2024, peaking earlier this month. The age group most represented in influenza case numbers were children aged 0-9.

Survey reveals why people aren’t getting flu jab

National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) associate director Frank Beard said flu vaccine uptake this year was about 2 or 3 per cent lower than last year, and up to 10 per cent lower than rates in 2022.

A national survey by the NCIRS found people’s main reasons for not vaccinating against flu were that they didn’t think influenza was serious, the vaccine would give them the flu, or it wouldn’t work.

“Those are incorrect but certainly, they’re all out there,” Professor Beard said.

“Since the COVID pandemic there seems to be vaccine fatigue, with all the focus on COVID vaccination.

“Also, with the current cost of living issues, people are busy and so they’re not prioritising influenza vaccination as much as they should.”

He said the survey also showed that people thought it was hard to get the vaccine and that cost was a barrier.

But Professor Beard said it was easier than ever to get a flu shot.

“Pharmacists in all states and territories can now give influenza vaccination,” he said.

“Most of them give it to anyone five years and over. Higher risk groups get it for free.”

Professor Beard encouraged all people to get their flu shot to prevent the illness aggravating other medical conditions.

“Every year it causes thousands of hospitalisations in Australia and hundreds of deaths,” he said.

Doctors seeing more flu cases in hospital emergency department

At the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) the emergency department has recorded 120 cases of influenza in the past two weeks. 

“Even at this time of the year, that’s a large number,” RMH respiratory physician Lou Irving said.

“There’s clearly a lot of influenza in the community.

“The numbers will eventually show that this is a big [flu] season.”

Professor Irving doesn’t work in the emergency department himself, but sees inpatients with respiratory illness, of which a higher number have been influenza recently. 

“Of the five patients admitted to us overnight, four of them were flu positive,” he said. 

Professor Irving said while vaccination rates nationally were waning, it was still worth having the flu shot to prevent the chance of serious illness.

In his job, he said, he’d been witnessing an increase in community-acquired pneumonia, of which a predisposing factor was seasonal influenza.

“Some people think of the flu as just a transient two to three days of aches and pains and fever, but unfortunately that infection then lowers the immune defences to other illnesses,” he said. 

“Although the vaccine is not 100 per cent effective, it does lessen the severity.”

Lower vaccine uptake makes a greater impact in flu season

Deakin University chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett said two issues feeding into the current flu peak — fewer people getting yearly flu shots, and a large population of people who hadn’t contracted flu in a long time due to pandemic lockdowns so their general immunity was low.

“That’s the concern, that with lower vaccine uptake we are seeing impact now that the flu season is now at its peak,” Professor Bennett said.

“People just get frustrated with having to think about things like vaccines. 

“There is that vaccine fatigue for some people, but also it’s less clear when it’s a problem because we’ve been hearing about flu and RSV and COVID right through the year.”

She said the flu vaccine is not perfect, but it’s worth taking because it reduces the risk of infection.

“If you’re taking [the flu shot] at the time that it’s on offer — from April each year now — that’s to coincide with our flu season and that is when the vaccine is most effective.”