According to the Australian Government Health Department-National Notifiable Infectious Diseases Surveillance System database, there are already almost 32,000 confirmed cases of flu within just the first quarter of 2019 in Australia.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that there are 1,255 Australian deaths from flu outbreak in 2017. So who is spreading the flu and what should we do to prevent it?
Health experts say that children and elder Australians are the most at risk groups when it comes to contracting flu.
While winter is around the corner, 'Only 10% of participants who attend survey think that children should be vaccinated, alarmingly merely 39% of Australian adults are planning to get a jab' according to a national survey by the Immunisation Coalition.
"Children are the flu spreaders and if we vaccinate them we could prevent flu outbreak. The benefits are outweighed health concerns, and there are no reasons why Australians should not vaccinate themselves. We’ve been developing flu immunizations for over 50 years. We know they’re safe, we know they're well tolerated, we know they work, they even work better on children," says Professor Robert Booy from the University of Sydney.
Better still, flu vaccination is also free for some people through the National Immunisation Program (NIP).
'Baby from six months to 5 years old, pregnant women and patients with a chronic illness like diabetes, heart disease, and Australians over 65 years old', says Dr Jelena Radosavljevic from Melbourne CBD.
You can get flu vaccination by making an appointment with your local doctors, clinics or chemist.
