Queensland vaccination rates lowest in nation as double hit of Brisbane Ekka and flu peak near

This is despite $675,000 spent on advertising the state’s free flu vaccination program.

McDougall said Queenslanders can still receive a free flu vaccination from more than 2500 community immunisation providers across the state and urged anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated this year to consider doing so.

Director of the Centre for Immunology and Infection Control Professor Kirsten Spann echoed McDougall’s advice, particularly with the Brisbane Ekka, an event that attracted more than 340,000 visitors last year, fast approaching.

“The best thing that people can do is get a flu shot,” Spann said.

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“If you look at vaccine coverage in Queensland from 15 to 50-year-olds, it’s only 18 per cent – that’s really, really low. That’s not going to protect us as a community from getting infected.”

Spann said Queensland’s low vaccination uptake reflected wider trends, in particular a reduction in vaccine confidence post-COVID.

“We all learned through COVID that vaccines for these respiratory viruses, they may not necessarily stop you getting infected, they’re not completely bulletproof when it comes to totally blocking transmission.

“But they decrease how sick you feel [and] if we can boost the levels of vaccine coverage, we will reduce hospital admissions.”

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For those worried it’s too late to get vaccinated, or lulled by the upcoming change of season, Spann said the flu season is still continuing for another three months.

“It’s not too late to get vaccinated, that’s why Queensland Health run this flu program until the end of September,” she said.

“We’re on an upward trajectory, which will probably continue through until the end of winter, unless we can get it under control through improved vaccination rates.”

For the last two years, Queensland Health has run a clinic offering free influenza vaccines at the Ekka. The initiative will not return this year.