Experts are urging Australians to be proactive about getting winter vaccinations amid warnings that flu infections are already on the rise.
“We’ve started to see flu numbers creep up,” said Dr Daryl Cheng, medical lead at the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre. “With the return of travel we’re starting to see seasonal patterns mimic what we were more used to pre-Covid,” he said.
Cheng said last year’s flu season started early, with cases peaking by June, two months earlier than was usual before the Covid pandemic.
The Doherty Institute’s Prof Ian Barr said flu infections during the latest northern hemisphere winter had also peaked two months earlier than usual, in December.
“In Europe they’re seeing an extended season … with quite a bit of influenza B still circulating,” he said.
Barr, who is deputy director of the World Health Organization’s collaborating centre for reference and research on influenza, said flu infections in Australia doubled in March compared with February, but “it looks like it’s going to be a normal season”.
The latest figures from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System show there were 3,730 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in the fortnight to 19 March, up 38% from the previous two weeks. In the year so far, 13,292 cases have been recorded.
Here’s what you need to know to prepare.
Who should get the flu shot?
An annual influenza vaccine is recommended for all Australians over six months. It is a quadrivalent vaccine, meaning it offers protection against four strains of influenza.
Flu shots are widely administered by GPs and in pharmacies. Under the National Immunisation Program, flu vaccinations are free for groups at higher risk:
Children aged six months to five years.
Pregnant women.
People aged 65 years or older.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over six months of age.
People with chronic illnesses such as cardiac, respiratory and neurological conditions.
Children younger than one require two doses to be fully vaccinated.
When should I get my flu shot?
The flu vaccine offers the highest level of protection in the first three to four months after your jab.
“The trouble with the flu is that you’re never quite sure when the cases are going to peak,” said Dr Charlotte Hespe, NSW/ACT faculty chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
“Get it as soon as you can over the next four to six weeks. Don’t panic if you can’t get it over the next couple of weeks,” she said.
“We know that the flu in Europe and North America was quite nasty this year – we’re very keen to protect as many people in a timely fashion.”
“Anytime in April [or] May is reasonable,” Barr said. “It’s probably better not to put it off.”
Cheng said: “If the season comes early, you want your protection on board.”
“We’re all hoping for a quiet flu season, but the indications are that if we have an early and sharp peak, that can place significant challenges for … the public to access healthcare. Preventive action is more helpful.”
If I’m due for a Covid booster, can I get the flu and Covid vaccines at the same time?
If you’re qualified to have a booster for Covid, it’s an excellent time to do it at the same time as your flu shot, Hespe said.
Covid-19 and the seasonal flu vaccines can be safely given on the same day.
All adults can get a booster if it has been six months or longer since your last Covid jab or infection. Covid boosters are particularly recommended for those over 65, or with underlying health conditions.
“We are in the midst of a slow surge [of Covid],” Hespe said. “It’s not something that people should think is a done and dusted infection.”
Are there other vaccines or respiratory illnesses to keep in mind?
Cheng, who is also a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Children’s hospital, said there had been a recent uptick in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). “We’ve seen RSV season start already – it’s a little bit earlier this year, just like last year,” he said.
Before Covid, the peak season for the respiratory virus was typically between June to August, but in 2022 the spread of RSV peaked in March and April, he said.
“[RSV] affects younger children, especially babies, more significantly than the average population,” Cheng said. There is no approved vaccination for RSV in Australia.
People aged 60 and over are recommended to have a herpes zoster vaccination, which protects against the virus that causes shingles. “Since Covid we’ve seen increased number of people with shingles,” Hespe said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 50 years and over, and non-Indigenous adults aged 70 years and over, should also consider getting the pneumococcal vaccine, which protects against a form of bacterial pneumonia.
