2023-08-03 12:49:38
Vaccination center in Australia at the time of the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in early 2022
Photo: dpa/AAP/Jono Searle
When it’s summer in Europe, it’s winter in the southern hemisphere, including Australia. That is why the country experiences its flu epidemic half a year before Germany. During the pandemic, travel restrictions, lockdown, mask wearing and hygiene measures have massively contained the flu. And last year, the Australians managed to keep the viral disease under control thanks to free vaccinations and the renewed (voluntary) use of the mask.
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But the current winter has brought the flu back in Australia with full force. This year, many children in particular have been hit hard, for whom the disease hit untrained immune systems after the long isolation during the Corona period. In total, almost 175,000 cases of influenza were reported to the Australian supervisory authorities by mid-July, compared to 22,000 in the last two weeks of July. The numbers are thus back to about the level of the years before the pandemic.
But data from the Department of Health also shows that nationwide, most cases of influenza occurred in children under the age of 14. “We see a lot of kids who are either getting the flu for the first time or haven’t had the flu for a few years,” Phil Britton, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Sydney, told local broadcaster ABC.
More than 160 people have died, including an 11-year-old girl from Queensland and a ninth-grader from New South Wales, the state where Sydney is located. Australia has been battling both influenza A (H1N1) and influenza B as the predominant circulating viruses this year, according to Ian Barr of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infections and Immunity in Melbourne. Both tend to affect children rather than adults or the elderly, although cases have occurred in other age groups. In such a year, there would always be more and therefore more serious cases, which required hospitalization and consequently fatalities, Barr explained. Some people would die directly from the influenza infection or from secondary bacterial or fungal infections.
Despite several warnings earlier in the season, vaccination rates in Australia have remained low this year. Only about a third of the population has been vaccinated against influenza, and the lowest rates are in children aged 5 to 14. Last year the country achieved a vaccination rate of 37 percent among under-fives, but this year it was only 25.5 percent and among older children between 5 and 14 years only 15 percent. The flu expert Barr suspects a certain vaccination fatigue after the multiple Covid vaccinations behind this tendency.
Vaccination rates in all age groups – even among those over 65 – have fallen this year. Only 36 percent of all people were vaccinated, which is significantly less than last year, when 44 percent were reached. In addition to vaccination fatigue, according to Barr, this is probably also due to the fact that most states had made the flu vaccination free for a certain period of time last year, while this is currently only the case in Western Australia and Queensland. Nevertheless, the vaccination has not been well received by the younger population there.
Winter in Australia is now so advanced that there is little point in getting the flu shot, especially since the vaccine takes at least two weeks to take effect. Therefore, Australian doctors now advise the use of antiviral agents, so-called antivirals, so that people with the flu can get back on their feet faster and prevent complications.
According to Barr, Europe should learn from Australia’s mistakes during the current flu season. The expert fears that it could also become more difficult in Europe in winter to persuade the population “vaccination-tired” after the pandemic to immunize. In particular, countries whose medical system has a high level of telemedicine and virtual consultations should expect their influenza vaccination rates to fall. Barr also referred to the impact this year’s flu has had on children in Australia. Against such tragic cases, people in Europe could still arm themselves this year with a flu vaccination.
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