Immunised against influenza—aged 6 months and over (PI14)

This indicator is the proportion of Indigenous regular clients aged 6 months and over who had an influenza immunisation within the previous 12 months. It is collected for males and females in age groups:

  • 6 months–4 years
  • 5–14 years
  • 15–24 years
  • 25–34 years
  • 35–44 years
  • 45–54 years
  • 55–64 years
  • 65 years and over.

There have been changes to the specification of this indicator over time. See Technical notes for more information.

Why immunisation against influenza is important

Influenza (the flu) is a contagious respiratory disease that causes seasonal epidemics in Australia. Anyone can be infected with influenza but some people, such as Indigenous Australians, have a higher chance of serious illness and complications, such as pneumonia. Some people with influenza die as a result of their infection. Annual influenza vaccination substantially reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death from influenza and pneumonia for Indigenous Australians (AIHW 2018).

At June 2021, 19% of Indigenous regular clients aged 6 months and over had an influenza immunisation within the previous 12 months.

At June 2021, there was a decrease in the proportion of clients receiving an influenza vaccination. Comments received by organisations who had a 20% or more decrease between December 2020 and June 2021 in the number of clients receiving an influenza vaccination provide some insight into the reasons for this. These include:

  • COVID-19 restrictions and requirements reducing the number of clients attending the organisations overall, not only for influenza vaccination
  • delivery of influenza vaccines to the organisations and then provision of influenza vaccines to clients being delayed because of the rollout and prioritisation of the COVID-19 vaccination program
  • time interval required between COVID-19 and influenza vaccination
  • clients being confused and hesitant about receiving vaccines, including influenza.

See also Impact of COVID-19.

Being immunised against influenza was highest in:

  • the Northern Territory (25%)
  • Very remote areas (22%).

Immunised against influenza—aged 6 months and over, by either state/territory, remoteness or organisation type, reporting period

Two Tableau visualisations are presented here. The first shows the percentage of Indigenous regular clients aged 6 months and over who had an influenza immunisation in the last year for either:

  • state/territory (NSW/ACT, Vic, Qld, WA, SA, Tas, NT, Australia)
  • remoteness area (Major cities, Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote, Very remote, Australia)
  • organisation type (ACCHO, non-ACCHO, Total).

Reporting periods of either December 2020, or June 2021 can be selected.

The second visualisation shows the selected information from the first visualisation by sex (male, female) and age groups (6 months–4 years, 5–14, 15–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65 and over).

Data supporting this visualisation are available in Excel supplementary data tables at Data.

Reference

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2018) Vaccine-preventable diseases fact sheets, Cat no. PHE 236, Canberra: AIHW.