Vaccine for deadly flu delayed
Health experts are worried that a delay to the start of Australia's flu vaccination program could put people at risk of a deadly strain that has caused epidemic hospital admissions of the elderly in the US.
The vaccination program usually starts mid-March but has been postponed until April 20 because manufacturers have been scrambling to reformulate the planned vaccine to include two strains that have mutated since the composition was decided.
They are trying to avoid what has happened in the northern hemisphere winter, where vaccines have performed poorly because of a mismatch with the circulating strains and have only been about 20 per cent effective in reducing illness.
The most worrying strain is from the H3N2 virus, known to be dangerous to the very young and elderly.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that flu hospitalisation rates in people aged 65 and over are the highest since it started collecting data 10 years ago.
Australian health authorities say the revised vaccine will cover three strains - two of them new - so will give better protection.
The double-strain change has caused manufacturing delays and though it is not expected to result in vaccine shortages, it means people who procrastinate will have five weeks less to have the flu shot before the peak outbreak time from May.
There have already been 2476 laboratory confirmed flu cases in Australia this year, almost 300 in WA.
University of WA flu expert and director of PathWest's national influenza centre David Smith said the new vaccine covered an influenza B strain and two influenza A strains - H1N1 and H3N2.
"The real issue is the H3 virus because it changes frequently and tends to cause severe disease," Dr Smith said.
"We know it's particularly the older people who will get severe illness and die of it. We saw that in 2012 when we had a H3 season."
Vaccination is still the single most effective way of reducing the chances of getting seriously ill from the flu.
Those eligible for free vaccines include pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, Aboriginals aged 15 and over and those with chronic conditions such as heart disease. WA is the only State that offers free flu vaccine to children aged six months to five years.
The Aboriginal Health Council of WA will today launch a project to improve immunisation rates in Aboriginal children.
The State Government-funded project will involve training up to 300 Aboriginal health workers to administer vaccinations, which currently can only be given by doctors and nurses.
