Young ‘superspreaders’ targeted in bid to avoid repeat of deadly flu season

The state’s nasal spray flu vaccination program will expand to target more young superspreaders in a bid to stave off another deadly flu season, as figures show Queenslanders remain hesitant to get vaccinated.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls posed for cameras as he received his flu vaccination from a chemist on Brisbane’s northside on Tuesday morning, before announcing that the state’s needle-free nasal spray program, originally offered to children aged two to five, would be expanded to all people under 18.

Asked why the program did not include older children from the outset, Nicholls said the government had acted on advice to target superspreaders aged two to five as a priority.

However, it had decided to expand the nasal spray – which has a shorter shelf life than the injectable vaccine – to ensure stock was not wasted.

“That stock expires variously in the month of August, [and] it’s no good that stock expiring on us,” Nicholls said.

“We want it being delivered to people, we want it being used … whether that’s the needle vaccination or whether it’s the free flu mist [nasal spray].”

The Crisafulli government announced the needle-free flu mist for young children last year, and said it would help the 25 per cent of kids who have a phobia about needles.

Nicholls said the needle-free initiative, the first of its kind in Australia, had already shown promising results.

“At a similar time last year, the number of two- to five-year-old children vaccinated [with the nasal spray] was around 20,000,” he said.

“As of yesterday, I’m told that number is almost 30,000, so that is a tremendous increase in the number of young children, who are the super-spreaders and affected most substantially from flu.”

But older age groups were not showing the same level of uptake, with only about 1.2 million Queenslanders vaccinated for the flu so far this year – roughly the same rate as last year.

“That represents about 20 per cent of the Queensland population,” Nicholls said.

“We’d always like to see more uptake … [so] as many people as possible we encourage to get the free flu vaccine.”

Last year, Queensland reported the lowest flu vaccination rate of any state or territory – less than 28 per cent of the population.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Marianne Gale, who pledged to improve the state’s vaccination rates when she took on the role this year, said current low rates of flu could be driving vaccine complacency.

“There’s not much flu around in Queensland, which is great, and we’re really pleased to see that people aren’t unwell, that our hospitals don’t have many people hospitalised with flu at the current time,” Gale said.

“But it does mean perhaps … people are not seeing a lot of illness, and perhaps that pressure to go and get vaccinated as well may not be there.”

In comparison, Queensland recorded more than 95,000 cases of influenza last year – the highest annual total in a decade. Almost 290 flu-related deaths were reported in the same period.

During the peak of the season, an average of 227 public hospital beds were occupied by flu patients, almost half over the age of 65.

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