Day by day the effectiveness of flu vaccines is decreasing to new lows. The flu vaccine's effectiveness may have dropped below 40 per cent this year, experts say, as flaws in its manufacturing and design become apparent. In response, experts are demanding the federal government introduce two new super-vaccines that are available overseas but not here.
More than 180,000 cases of flu have been confirmed nationally this flu season, two and a half times the number of cases over the same period in 2016. In NSW three children were among 288 flu-related deaths, while in Victoria 95 people have died of flu-related conditions in 2017, according to the latest state-based data.
