Canberra flu cases soar with ACT government urged to consider free vaccine

Influenza cases are tracking higher than pre-pandemic years and are at similar levels to the horror flu season in 2019, where about 4000 were infected with the virus.

The ACT has no plans at this stage to make the flu vaccine free but territory health organisations have urged for it to be considered.

There were 323 new cases of influenza in the fortnight to May 22 in the ACT, the latest flu surveillance report from ACT Health has shown. There have been a total of 687 cases in the territory so far this year.

The virus is spreading among young people, with the median age of new cases being 20 years. Health authorities say that a substantial proportion of the new influenza cases were associated with transmission from workplaces and share houses.

Australian Medical Association ACT branch president Dr Walter Abhayaratna said the system would be slammed over the coming months.

"In the winter season we're going to be slammed with COVID, we're going to be slammed with other respiratory illnesses, including influenza and we'll have staff taking sick leave," he said.

"Right now it doesn't seem to be that influenza cases are coming into hospital in larger numbers than COVID but that may shift, particularly if we have a very virulent strain.

"We certainly know it is transmissible because it's not even peak flu season and the numbers are really rising rapidly across the country.

"We have immune naive community who are susceptible to, number one, getting the flu but, number two, potentially if the virus is virulent, getting bad flu that will require hospitalisation."

Dr Abhayaratna said it made sense to offer the flu vaccine for free.

"I think this is a year where we do not want to do things after the facts occur, we want to be doing things proactively so that we can do whatever we can to prevent cases from coming into hospital and severe illness occurring in the community," he said.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel said the current pressure on nurses and midwives was the worst it had been since the start of the pandemic. He said the government should do all it can to curb this pressure, including offering free flu shots.

"The pressure on midwives and nurses is certainly relentless and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. In fact, our members say that it is getting worse and it's the worse they have seen through the pandemic," Mr Daniel said.

"Whatever the government can do at the moment to support nurses and midwives to be in the workplace, they should be considering and that might be for the broader community making sure that vaccination is freely available as it has been for COVID vaccinations.

"The situation we are facing as a community, the government needs to do everything within its powers at the moment to reduce the demand on the health system."

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Queensland had made the jab free until the end of June and NSW is expected to announce a similar program next week.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews confirmed on Wednesday that the state was considering doing the same. South Australia and Western Australia are also making similar considerations.

But an ACT Health spokesman did not say the territory was considering the same. He said free vaccinations were offered to vulnerable groups and there were also subsidised vaccines available at GPs and pharmacies.

"This year the ACT government is offering influenza vaccinations for free to targeted groups at our COVID-19 access and sensory immunisation clinic," the spokesman said.

"Subsidised flu vaccinations are also available for priority groups at GPs and pharmacies through the Commonwealth's National Immunisation Program."

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