2024 has seen a severe start to the influenza season in Australia but as the season progresses into winter, community pharmacies are delivering more vaccinations than ever before.
According to the Australian Immunisation Register, there were 1,719,721 vaccinations administered in pharmacy settings during the period 1 March to 2 June 2024. This represents a 4% increase compared with the same time last year. Compared with the same time in 2022, community pharmacies have provided nearly 8% more vaccinations.
Despite this promising growth in pharmacy vaccination rates, Australians are still demonstrating concerning levels of vaccine hesitancy. Compared with 2023, vaccinations are down 9% overall, and are a whopping 16% lower compared with the same time in 2022. In fact, the total number of flu vaccinations administered at this point in the season is the lowest it has been since 2021.
Source: Australian Immunisation Register – Influenza Data – 1 March to 2 June (Department of Health and Aged Cared 2024)
So what is driving this hesitancy?
Some experts are concerned that parents of children under 5 years of age are finding it difficult to access GP appointments, misunderstanding who is eligible for vaccinations, or forgetting to book.
So far this year, 228,732 children aged under 5 years have received their flu vaccination – a 13% drop compared with last year.
Vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic was in part driven by online misinformation that added to mistrust for government and health officials promoting vaccines. The World Health Organisation also cites the role of influential leaders, cost, geographic barriers and concerns about vaccine safety as factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy.
Australia’s Immunisation Coalition says that parents’ lack of awareness of immunisation programs for under 5s and concerns about vaccine safety are to blame for low vaccination rates in the age group.
In Australia, children aged 5 years and older can access flu vaccinations at their local community pharmacy, however, in Queensland infants and children aged 6 months and over can be vaccinated at the pharmacy.
While flu vaccination is recommended for all people aged 6 months and older, more work is needed to support vaccine uptake. Health care practitioners have an important role to play. Pharmacists, in particular, play a vital role in filling the vaccination gap, especially where certain populations are missing out.
According to the Grattan Institute’s How to close the immunisation Gap report, likelihood of receiving a vaccine is significantly lower for people living in outer regional and remote areas.
Even in urban and regional areas, location plays a part in vaccination rates with significant variance in vaccination rates depending on area.
Pharmacies have a unique role to play being the most frequently accessed health destination in Australia, with over 443.6 million annual patient visits to the network of 6000 community pharmacies. 2,127 of these pharmacies are open after hours, including on weekends.
In capital cities, 96% of people have access to at least one pharmacy within a 2.5km radius. Outside capital cities, 83% of Australians live within 5km of a pharmacy.
Community pharmacists are also one of the most trusted professionals, along with nurses and doctors, with public opinion surveys showing that 84% of adults trust the advice they receive from pharmacists.
With high levels of trust, and as Australia’s most accessible healthcare practitioner, a pharmacist’s recommendation can drive vaccine uptake, especially for children; indeed, parents expect it. The Immunisation Coalition states that 87% of parents expected their healthcare practitioner to remind them about vaccination. They recommend implementing reminder systems, by way of reminding parents when they receive another vaccination and to reach out via SMS, email or post, if possible.
And to further boost vaccination uptake, under 5s should have access to influenza vaccinations from pharmacists in Australia’s remaining states and territories.
After Queensland introduced vaccinations for under 5s in pharmacy in 2023, 3% of National Immunisation Program funded vaccinations were administered in community pharmacy to this cohort. This number is anticipated to increase as community awareness of the service expands.
Allowing community pharmacy to provide flu vaccines to children under 5 in the remaining Australian states and territories, would see a significant increase in vaccinations as it increases the instance of reminders, and makes vaccinations available more readily across the country.
