Millions of Australian adults are unvaccinated and it’s increasing disease risk for all of us
Flu vaccination uptake rates are low in adults, including among those who work in health, aged care and childcare.
from www.shutterstock.com
C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW; Holly Seale, UNSW, and Rob Menzies, UNSW
Public attention has recently focused on improving vaccination rates in Australian infants and children. But actually the largest unvaccinated group of people recommended for immunisation are adults.
Of 4.1 million unvaccinated Australians, 92% (3.8 million) are adults, and only a small fraction are children.
Improving adult vaccination rates will reduce their risk of illness and death, and lower transmission of infection in the community.
Fewer adults than children are vaccinated
The government provides free adult vaccines for influenza (flu), pneumococcal pneumonia and shingles for people over the aged of 65 years, and selected vaccines for those with underlying medical conditions, Indigenous people older than 15 years and pregnant women.
However, our latest research…
Read more