Medical experts have warned of the potentially fatal return of dormant diseases, with in the midst of a ‘perfect storm’ of illness and ‘vaccination fatigue’ across the country.
Vaccination rates are so low in some areas that killer conditions such as polio, tetanus and whooping cough could make a shocking and fearful return.
The vaccination rates in Queensland have fallen to levels not seen for decades, with just 80 per cent of children fully vaccinated for deadly diseases in some districts.
This is far below the 95 per cent level generally accepted as providing herd immunity – protecting even those not vaccinated – and could lead to the deaths of children.
Parts of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are at around 80 per cent vaccination rates for polio, and at around the same level for DTP immunisation jabs, which covers diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough).
‘If vaccination rates continue to fall in some areas, it is certainly opening the door to a return of these diseases,’ Griffith University infectious disease expert Professor Nigel McMillan told the Courier-Mail.
‘We know that the north coast, Gold Coast and Wide Bay areas have some of the lowest rates of DTP vaccinations in country.’
There has already been a surge in whooping cough this year, with 7,010 cases so far. The average number from the years 2019 to 2023 was just 250.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said the level of childhood vaccination rates began to plummet at the end of the public health response to the Covid pandemic.
‘This is being seen not only in Queensland but across and internationally,’ he said. ‘There is vaccination fatigue and vaccine hesitancy throughout the developed world.
‘It is my responsibility to ensure people have the facts when they make healthcare decisions.’
Influenza is also having a devastating effect, with more than 270,000 cases across already this year, likely leading to a record-breaking high of hospitalisations in Queensland.
NSW has reported 140,978 cases as flu remained at a high level in August, while almost 47,000 Queenslanders tested positive, with eight per cent of them, around 4,600 people, admitted to hospital.
That number has already passed the total number of hospitalisations reported in all of 2019 by about 1,000 cases and is nearing the worst year on record – 2017 with 6,079 hospitalisations.
Immunisation Coalition Infectious Disease Expert Robert Booy said while Queensland was particularly affected, ‘the whole of is impacted’.
‘We’ve actually had an almost perfect storm, where not only flu has surged but also other viruses like RSV and human metapneumovirus,’ he said.
‘That can be explained by the fact there was a drop in infections and a resurgence due to waning immunity and due to increased mixing.’
Professor Booy said ns had become more susceptible to flu after Covid because of social distancing rules being dropped.
Critically, as peak season subsides he added that many people had become complacent about getting a flu immunisation.
‘The season is starting to wane, but that means that there are still a lot of people catching infection right now,’ he said.
‘Even vaccination now in August can be beneficial, and because people haven’t availed themselves of protection.’
Professor Booy said he expected the ‘moderately bad year’ to start to track down throughout August and into September, the typical end of the flu season.
But he said many school age children and older people – those most at risk from flu – would benefit from more people being immunised.
In its most recent report ending July 28, the federal government found influenza A was the most commonly detected respiratory illness in all states across the country.
It beat out both RSV and Covid, with 195,162 cases of Covid reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, so far this year.
The worst hit states according to the Immunisation Coalition were NSW with almost 150,000 cases this year, followed by Queensland and then Victoria.
NSW
The number of flu cases in NSW declined in the week ending August 3 but remained at a high level, according to the NSW Department of Health.
Government data reveals more than 6,300 people tested positive for the flu that week, a drop of 20 per cent from the week before.
That came after cases skyrocketed in July with more than 16,000 positive results being returned, compared with just about 8,000 the same time last year.
Children aged up to four were the largest demographic, with the Western Sydney Local Health District returning the highest numbers.
Queensland
In Queensland, 7,142 people tested positive for flu in the week ending August 11, while there had been 7,282 cases reported the previous week.
Of those cases for the week to August 11, 254 people were admitted to hospital, largely in the Brisbane metro area.
So far this year, at least 4,600 people have been admitted because of flu, more than 1,200 of which were in Brisbane.
Victoria
Victoria reported a total of 51,668 cases of influenza so far this year, up to August 12.
South
South reported more than 1,000 additional cases of flu so far this year up till August 9 than during the same time last year.
In the week ending August 9, the SA government reported 1,286 cases of the flu, with the number of cases so far this year hitting 13,168.
Tasmania
Influenza activity was at a moderate but decreasing level in Tasmania in the week ending August 4 with ‘widespread circulation in the community’.
In that week, 203 people notified as having been positive for influenza, or about 35.4 people per 100,000.
Western
Western reported an increase of flu and flu-like illnesses in the week ending July 28.
During that week, the number of cases notified to the Department of Health increased by 19 per cent to 969 cases and ‘remained above the seasonal threshold’.
Nonetheless, year-to-date the number of flu notifications and deaths were lower than the previous five-year average, though hospitalisations were higher.
ACT
A total of 303 people reported being positive for flu from August 2-8, with a total of 3,533 cases so far this year.