Amid a steep national rise in children being admitted to hospital with influenza, the New South Wales chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has urged parents to vaccinate their children.
Children aged six months to under five years can receive a free flu vaccination as they are considered a high-risk group. Other high-risk groups eligible for free vaccination include pregnant women, those aged 65 and above, Aboriginal people from six months of age, and those with serious health conditions.
Just 22% of children aged six months to five years old are vaccinated against influenza nationally, compared with 61% of those aged 65 and above.
“In recent weeks we have seen influenza cases rising fastest among very young children as well as those aged five to 16 years, with these two age groups often accounting for around half of all flu cases diagnosed in NSW each week,” Chant said.
“Sadly, our children’s hospitals are seeing an increasing number of these children being admitted for care and some of these patients are seriously unwell.”
The latest national surveillance data shows in the year to 30 June, reported influenza cases have been highest in people aged five to nine years old (1,497 notifications per 100,000 population).
This was followed by those aged zero to four years old, and those aged 10 to 14 years old. Influenza A accounted for the highest rate of cases across all age groups, and comprised most cases overall in all jurisdictions except for the Northern Territory, where influenza B accounts for the highest proportion of cases notified to the health department.
Since April, 69% of people admitted to hospital with confirmed influenza were children aged younger than 16. Of children under 16 with influenza admitted to hospital in the year to date, 5.9% went directly to intensive care, compared with 1.8% of adults aged 65 years or older.
In NSW there was a 37% increase in emergency department presentations with influenza-like illness and a 30% increase in admissions to hospital in the week to 2 July compared to the previous week. Children aged under 16 years represented 54% of emergency department attendances in the past week.
An alert from NSW Health said children were being disproportionately affected by influenza this year.
Since May, 16 children have been admitted to intensive care with life-threatening complications from influenza at Sydney Children’s hospital in Randwick, the Children’s hospital at Westmead and John Hunter hospital, with numbers continuing to rise. These complications include serious heart, brain and muscle-related complications.
In the year to 3 July, NSW had reported 43,539 influenza cases, followed by Queensland (43,147 cases), Victoria (20,453 cases), Western Australia (11,693 cases), South Australia (7,729 cases), the Northern Territory (1,684 cases), the ACT (1,252 cases) and South Australia (7,729).
Influenza vaccination is recommended for all Australians aged six months and older. There is currently not enough information to comprehensively assess the potential severity of the 2023 influenza season, the latest national surveillance report said.
