For 74-year-old Kevin Condon, what started as a benign flu last June, ended up being a protracted case of pneumonia that took him months to recover from.
Already six months into recuperating from being run over by a car, the deep coughs, bed sweats and shortness of breath had him in bed for five weeks.
That may have been bad enough, but it was the thought of potentially going to hospital for treatment that had him particularly concerned.
"I am very paranoid about going to hospital, particularly (at the age of) 74 because my father dies from M-R-S-A (bacterial infection*) just from going into hospital for a routine inspection after a fall. And he died from that infection picked up in hospital. So I was paranoid about going to hospital. Fortunately, I escaped that. But it could took me a long time to recover."
While there were no lasting effects from the injury, the experience reinforced the lessons learnt from his mild brush with shingles (painful rash), eight years earlier.
"It is just one of those illnesses (shingles) that you don't think is going to happen. When it does happen, there are various levels of effect. Fortunately mine was mild, my father's very serious and my girlfriend's. It has left a lasting effect on her (neck stiffness). You have just got to think that even though it's unlikely (to happen to you), it could be so serious that it could affect your eyesight. You could go blind with shingles."
With vaccination rates for infants in Australia sitting above 90 per cent, health researchers say only 51 per cent of adults aged over 64, are vaccinated for both flu and pneumococcal.
And it is the risk of outbreaks that have experts worried.
Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Raina MacIntyre, from the University of New South Wales, says some of the infections can even result in death.
"Every year there are outbreaks (of flu) in hospitals, in nursing homes. You see explosive, catastrophic outbreaks occurring in nursing homes of flu, pneumococcal, pneumonia, whooping cough, gastroenteritis. Flu is the one that is preventable by vaccine that is preventable on the NIP (National Immunisation Program ), as well as pneumonia, which is often a complication of flu. You know bacterial pneumonia. These outbreaks can be impacted (reduced) by people being vaccinated."
Professor MacIntyre has co-authored a report -- published in the Medical Journal of Australia -- examining the reasons why up to 3.8 million Australian adults are missing out on free, potentially lifesaving vaccinations.
"You know an infant will just be brought in to be vaccinated by a parent, whereas adults are mobile, they're working, they've got other commitments. That's one reason they're harder to vaccinate. The second is we have a childhood vaccination register, so it is easy for doctor's to keep track of infant vaccinations. But for adults, at this stage, G-Ps are not able to check the register for their patient's vaccination status. We have got a whole of life register, which is a fantastic initiative by the government, it came in last year. But it doesn't yet capture older adults. It will do. And that will make a big difference. The third reason is: provider confidence in vaccines. So doctors and nurses are much more attuned towards infant vaccinations. They tend to be less enthusiastic and less convinced about adult vaccination. When you ask unvaccinated adults why they're not vaccinated, the most common reason in research is: my doctor never told me. So the recommendation of a doctor is really important."
Boosting vaccination rates amongst the adult population is the focus of work at the newly launched Vaccine and Infection Research Lab at the University of New South Wales.
Working alongside Professor MacIntyre, Dr Holly Seale says the high-risk groups include travellers, migrants, refugees and Indigenous Australians.
She says these groups tend to fall through the gaps of the healthcare system more often than others.
"Migrants if they're travelling back to their country of origin, they're very under-immunised when it comes to travel-related vaccinations because of risk perception either by themselves, or by their primary care provider. They often think they are not at risk of travel-related infections. Or there might be financial issues with seeking pre-travel healthcare. Unfortunately, it then ends up with some of our common vaccine-preventable diseases being brought back into the country because of people travelling to areas where these infections are still more prevalent than in Australia."
She says increasing awareness within workplaces and community centres needs to be part of the strategy of reaching out to under-vaccinated groups.
"We know that if healthcare workers themselves get vaccinated that they are more often going to promote vaccines to their patients. You know, seeing advertising mainstream. I think that helps. And having those conversations with each other, I think, is really important in trying to demystify about these vaccines. And reassuring each other that is actually important and extremely safe to get vaccinated."
Both researchers are encouraging people to be proactive about staying up to date with their vaccinations.
For Kevin Condon -- now a fashion model, entrepreneur and language teacher -- it is simply about quality of life.
"Go and get the vaccines because why risk...You know you're in a period of your life when your health can deteriorate. These (vaccinations) will help prevent that, or the risk of something happening that will impact the end of your life. I don't think it is worth it. I want to live for a long period of time. And I want to live healthily. That is my take on it all."
