A simple, inexpensive flu shot is enough to keep you out of hospital.
But thousands of Australians aren't getting this message.
New data shows more than 15,000 Australians were hospitalised with the flu or pneumonia in 2011/12 when a vaccination could have kept them healthy.
The rate of vaccine-preventable hospital stays has risen over the past five years, the COAG Reform Council report shows.
"They get the flu, they end up in hospital," council chairman John Brumby told reporters on Wednesday.
"It's not good for them, not good for the hospital and not good for the taxpayer.
"A flu shot could have fixed it."
There was also an increase in children whose parents refuse to get them immunised ending up in hospital.
Vaccination rates overall were a concern governments needed to address, Mr Brumby said.
The data also showed the rates of people going to hospital with acute conditions like dehydration and gastro also jumped over the past five years.
However the amount of hospital visits that could have been prevented relating to chronic conditions fell.
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