Family of eight-year-old Melbourne girl who died of flu call for immunisation
The family of an eight-year-old Melbourne girl who died of the flu have urged other parents to vaccinate their children.
Christian Brealy said his “beautiful princess” Rosie died hours after she took a turn for the worse, going into cardiac arrest with six paramedics unable to revive her.
“She had been sick for a few days and we thought she had a bad cold. Never in my worst dreams did I ever
think it would end up like this,” he said in a statement posted online.
In a statement released to News Corp, the heartbroken father called on people to immunise their children against the flu.
“We urge everyone to get their kids immunised against the flu and ask only that our privacy is respected and our family given time and space to grieve,” Brealey said.
“We are devastated by the loss of our beautiful, loving little angel.”
The family’s call has been echoed by the Victorian deputy chief health officer.
“My opinion is the greater the immunisation rate we have in kids, the better off we are,” Dr Brett Sutton told reporters on Tuesday.
However, he was unsure if making the flu vaccination compulsory was the answer.
Including the flu vaccine as part of the free national immunisation program was up to the commonwealth to decide, Sutton said.
Between 3% and 5% of children were being vaccinated for the flu currently, he added.
Rosie’s death follows that of Ben Ihlow, 30, who died on 3 September.
“We are having a horror flu season, we have had 13,500 or thereabouts flu notifications to date. That is double from what we had last year,” Victoria’s health minister, Jill Hennessy, told parliament.
Eight elderly residents died at St John’s Retirement Village at Wangaratta during a two-week period stretching into September.