As a “severe” flu season looms experts have warned to book a jab, but local pharmacists say the Logan community is already showing signs of “needle fatigue”.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza has “taken a back-seat” but now as both viruses spread rapidly through the community, health authorities and local pharmacists are concerned people will forgo their annual jab.
Logan City Pharmacy Manager Joshua Luck says while there has been a small boost in flu vaccination bookings in his store, uptake has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels.
“At the moment we have 70 bookings in-store; the previous year was around 30 or 40 but pre-pandemic was around 100 to 200.”
“We have seen a small resurgence in flu shot bookings but still not as much as previous years because of the misconception that COVID protects people from the flu,” he said.
Loganholme Pharmacy Owner Ritche Andit says current booking rates are “lower than expected” sitting at around 30% of what they were prior to the pandemic.
“The last two years have been really weird because people have been isolating and there has been less transmission of the flu.
“This year there has been an increase from the last two years because it was really quiet, but it’s not a lot; we still have plenty of stock.
“So far in May there have only been seven bookings.”
“I think people are vaccine fatigued, they’ve had to do three courses of the COVID vaccination and they think the last two years of an almost non-existent flu season will continue this year.”
With this year’s flu cases already surpassing the total number seen in 2021, there are concerns from health experts that the upcoming flu season may be severe.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath says this year is not the year to skip getting the vaccine.
“The last two years have been incredibly difficult on everyone,” Minister D’Ath said.
“I understand the urge to want to move back to normal and to put the pandemic in the past, but part of getting back to normal is getting back to our normal shots.
“The risks of flu haven’t changed, and in fact, are higher this year, so our attitude to vaccinations shouldn’t either,” Dr D’Ath said.
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard added his concerns about the severity of the flu season, following low flu numbers over the last two years.
“While we cannot confirm exactly how any flu season will behave, I definitely have concerns about how low natural immunity will be in the community this year,” Dr Gerrard said.
“We saw a very low level of flu transmission last year and the year before, and this was likely due to the number of public health measures that we had in place at the time.
“Now that these measures have been lifted and international arrivals are able to enter Australia, we can expect a much higher transmission of the flu across Queensland.
“The natural immunity that we build up year-to-year will also have waned, so it is important for Queenslanders to get vaccinated and help create a buffer against this severe and potentially fatal disease.”
Data from the Australian Immunisation Register shows just over 750,000 flu shots were administered in Queensland between the beginning of March and May 8.
Under ATAGI guidelines, people are now able to get their COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine at the same time and are widely available at GPs and pharmacies.
Logan City Council are running a number of weekly immunisation clinics across the city where no appointments are required.
