Health authorities have expressed concern about flu rates among Queensland children and warned that an unstoppable contagion could spread when school resumes on Monday.
Around 20 children are admitted to the Sunshine State hospital every day as flu cases soar.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard fears rates will rise when students return to classrooms on Monday.
He warned that up to 50 children could be admitted to hospitals every day for the next two to three weeks. mail reported.
The figure is even more alarming since the flu season is not expected to peak until mid-August.
Dr Gerrard said schools and childcare centres were likely to be “ground zero” for the highly contagious virus because there were already thousands of unvaccinated Queenslanders with flu symptoms.
The chief health officer said these Queenslanders are already bombarding busy emergency departments across the state.
Dr Gerrard is urging parents to vaccinate their entire family to stop the domino effect of the virus that can spread rapidly throughout the home and affect older and more vulnerable family members.
“We can stop that momentum if people get free flu shots now. It’s not too late to get vaccinated,” he said.
Health authorities have expressed concern about flu rates in Queensland children and warned that an unstoppable contagion could spread when school resumes on Monday (file image)
The chief health officer said there was “no excuse” not to get vaccinated as Queensland was the only state where the vaccine was free for people aged six months and was easily accessible not only from GPs but also pharmacies.
Despite this, less than a quarter of Queensland children have received the flu vaccine.
“There are currently two distinct strains of influenza A spreading rapidly in the community. Both strains are protected by available vaccines,” said Dr. Gerrard.
Children have the highest number of flu cases in Queensland and places such as the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Darling Downs, Ipswich and Central Queensland are current hotspots for a flu outbreak.
Between January and the end of June there were 24,256 cases of flu in Queensland, of which 10 per cent were hospitalised.
In the last week of June alone, there were no less than 2,666 cases.
Flu isn’t the only concern for Queenslanders this winter, with Covid and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) still present, creating a triple threat for the Sunshine State.
Flu isn’t the only concern for Queenslanders this winter, with Covid and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) still present, creating a triple threat for the Sunshine State (file image)
Although influenza has the highest infection rate, RSV cases have doubled since the same period last year, and most hospitalized patients are younger than two years old.
COVID continues to mutate and will continue to affect the community in waves, Dr. Gerrard said.
And with low uptake of flu vaccines in the state, infectious disease expert Paul Griffin said Australians have forgotten how dangerous the virus can be.
“It can kill. And we have seen that it not only kills very vulnerable people, but it also takes the lives of healthy people,” he said.