Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Australia experienced its highest recorded influenza season to date, with over 351,641 laboratory confirmed cases – a sharp increase from last year’s 289,134 cases and surpassing the pre-pandemic peak of 313,454 cases in 20191.
Source: https://www.immunisationcoalition.org.au/news-data/influenza-statistics/
Despite this surge, the Immunisation Coalition’s latest national survey reveals that fewer Australians are choosing to protect themselves through vaccination. The declining vaccination rates raise concerns about the country’s preparedness for future flu seasons and highlight a growing public perception that influenza is not a serious disease.
Dr Rodney Pearce AM, Chairman of the IC, expresses concern, stating “The record number of cases should be a wake-up call. Influenza is not just a bad cold; it can have severe consequences, particularly for vulnerable populations. Yet, our surveys indicate that many Australians are disengaged and feel vaccination is unnecessary. This puts the whole community at risk.”
The Immunisation Coalition urges governments, healthcare professionals, and providers to come together to reverse the decline. Andrew Minton, CEO of the Immunisation Coalition, emphasises, “we need to invest in effective strategies to address the knowledge gap of disease burden and deliver factual information to all Australians in an efficient and effective manner. We urge the government and like-minded groups and organisations to work together to address under-vaccination, particularly in risk groups, before these decline further and filter into other infectious diseases.”
Key Survey Findings: Flu Vaccine Apathy and Misinformation
The Immunisation Coalition’s national survey series identified several worrying trends:
- General Population Survey2: Of the 25,000 participants surveyed; only 54% felt that influenza is a serious disease, 55% did not see vaccination as a benefit or being important and next year vaccination rates are expected to fall further to just 29% of the population. Many are confused about when to get vaccinated, with 54% believing that May or June is the ideal time, despite official recommendations to vaccinate earlier.
- Healthcare Provider Insights3: Of the 550 general practitioners and nurses surveyed; 59% said that the public attitude towards influenza has changes since COVID- 19 and 63% believe that the public attitude towards communicable infectious diseases has changed significantly post COVID-19. 82% believe the public are more informed of the benefits of vaccination (against COVID-19) gained from personal experience, news, media and public health campaigns but the pandemic has caused vaccine fatigue, hesitancy and disengagement. Importantly, 73% believe that misinformation is impacting vaccination rates, and that this misinformation is coming mainly from social media. Almost half of GPs/Nurse Practitioners surveyed believe that governments and HCPs should be the leading sources of information, and these should be communicated in a more effective way.
- Parents of Young Children4: Of the 1000 parents having children under five years old; only 45% were aware that vaccination is recommended for their age group. The key reasons not to vaccinate were 1) the belief that influenza is not a serious disease, 2) vaccination does not protect their child against influenza and 3) safety concerns. Again, misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment has affected vaccination rates, with 29% exposed to misinformation and 26% to anti-vax sentiment which is accessed through social media channels. Surprisingly, only 45% of parents were aware that children under 5 years are recommended to be vaccinated and that vaccination is free under the National Immunisation Program (NIP). Alarmingly, only 27% of Australian children under 5 years have been vaccinated against influenza —down from 46% in 2019.
What does all this mean?
The experience of COVID-19 has had a detrimental effect on vaccination rates. People are more aware of infectious disease, their harmful effects including long periods of illness, hospitalisation and increased risk of death. They are also acutely aware of being told to vaccinate and to vaccinate more. There is an element of ‘vaccine fatigue’ and that some infectious diseases (when compared to COVID-19) may not be as harmful as once thought. This is not true. There also seems to be some confusion on the best time to vaccinate pre-season and although there are official recommendations, this seems to either be lost in the jungle of information or the message is not delivered to the public in an efficient way.
Federal and State Governments should play a greater role addressing vaccination rates. Whilst vaccination programs are complex and complicated, emphasis should be placed on public awareness campaigns with clear and consistent messaging on protection strategies, e.g. mask wearing, washing of hands, and vaccination. Announcing free vaccination programs is welcomed, but the public needs to understand the harm infectious diseases like influenza cause, and what are the options to reduce individual infection risk. In short, there seems insufficient buy-in from the general public and this sentiment is growing.
These findings across all three surveys are concerning but not unexpected. Whilst these survey’s only focus on influenza, the downward trend in vaccination rates may easily spread to other infectious diseases. For children under 5 years, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis b, rotavirus, pneumococcal disease, MMR, meningococcal ACWY and others, all have a vaccination rate of around 95%. But this too, is starting to decline and needs to be addressed urgently.
What’s the solution?
Investment in disease awareness and sufficient funding in systems (to identify, track and make contact) and resources (mainly Primary Care HCPs and vaccination service providers). This would ensure people who need to be vaccination, are vaccinated.
- There should be clear and consistent messaging direct to the public that influenza is a harmful disease and that vaccination is both safe an effective.
- Priority should be to identify high-risk individuals including parents of children under 5 years, adults 65 years and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 50 years and over and people with special medical conditions.
- The public should be aware that the start of the flu season is April and this is the time to be vaccinated.
References:
- Dashboard · NNDSS Portal. (2024, October 30) Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://nindss.health.gov.au/pbi-dashboard/
- Australian’s & Influenza 2024, General Population Survey Q1 2024, Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://www.immunisationcoalition.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Australians-and-Influenza-Q1-2024-Survey-Report.pdf
- General Practice Survey, Immunisation Coalition (2024, September), Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://www.immunisationcoalition.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Small-Size-Immunisation-Coalition-Template-GP-Survey-Q2-2024.pdf
- Influenza Vaccination Amongst Children Under 5 Years, Immunisation Coalition (2024, September), Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://www.immunisationcoalition.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Immunisation-Coalition-U5-influenza-Vaccination_Survey-Q3-2024_final.pdf