Get flu shots, Aussies urged

MORE than 1100 people across Australia died from the flu last year, 90 per cent of those killed were over the age of 65.

In Tasmania at least 21 deaths in nursing homes were attributed to the flu and about 2300 people were diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease.

Overall in Tasmania, last year’s deadly flu season claimed more than 200 lives.

Alarming new data shows the flu struck down a quarter of a million Australians across the country during the worst season in a decade, with 54,000 patients aged over 65.

Health authorities are now urging people to get the influenza vaccine, with the Federal Government providing 4.5 million free shots to those who are most at risk including older Australians and people with chronic conditions.

There were 1100 flu-related deaths across the country last year, 90 per cent of whom were aged over 65, including 21 people caught in outbreaks at an aged care homes across Tasmania.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said two Australian-first vaccines would be made available this year for people over 65 to provide them longer-lasting targeted protection from deadly strains of the flu.

The National Centre for Immunisation Research’s head of clinical research Professor Robert Booy said although this flu season was predicted to be

For people aged 65 years or older.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 6 months to 5 years or 15 years and older. Pregnant women. Adults and children from six months of age with certain chronic medical conditions.

less severe than last winter, it was vital that as many healthy adults were vaccinated as possible to boost herd immunity.

“If we can get enough people who are healthy they will become stops to the transmission of the virus and therefore protect the vulnerable,” Prof Booy said.

A survey released this week of 15,000 Australians — done on behalf of the Immunisation Coalition, an independent network of immunologists and GPs — found just over half of adults do not intend to have a flu shot this year.

Men in their 50s and 60s are most likely to believe the flu shot doesn’t work and just a quarter of adults surveyed said they got the jab every year.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy urged people to get vaccinated from this month to ensure they were protected before the peak flu season — June to September.

“The flu jab does not contain any live virus, so you cannot get the flu from the vaccine,” he said.