Millions of Aussies – especially kids and older adults – remain at risk as cases climb past 230,000.
Just over a third of Australians have received an influenza vaccination during the past five months, new data from the Australian Immunisation Register reveals.
The DoHDA report, released on 29 June, covers the period from 1 March to 27 July.
It shows 8,633,437 people received an influenza vaccine during that period (compared with 8,459,770 for the same period in 2024). The five-65 years age group makes up the bulk of these (4,992,891), followed by the 65-plus age group (3,262,370). The under five years age group is by far the lowest on 378,176.
The latest official Australian population estimate released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month is 27,400,013.
GPs have provided the bulk of vaccinations (4,794,820), followed by pharmacies (2,548,011) and other providers (1,290,606).
New South Wales is leading the way when it comes to the number of vaccinations provided during the period with 2,595,916, followed by Victoria (2,343,667), Queensland (1,655,753), Western Australia (886,653), South Australia (673,696), Tasmania (213,196), the ACT (199,253) and the Northern Territory (64,852).
According to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (accessed on 29 July), there have been 232,249 reported cases of laboratory confirmed influenza.
The bulk of cases have been in NSW (89,760 cases), followed by Victoria (55,762), Queensland (43,750), South Australia (17,182), Western Australia (15,401), the ACT (4552), Tasmania (3268) and the Northern Territory (2574).
The release of the data coincided with a statement from the Australian Health Protection Committee (AHPC) raising concerns about the current increase in respiratory disease activity across Australia.
“AHPC remains concerned that the number of people receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine this year remains low, especially in high-risk age groups,” the committee statement said.
“This year’s seasonal influenza vaccine is well matched to the influenza virus strains circulating in the community. Despite public health efforts, 40% of adults aged 65 years and over and 77% of children aged six months to less than five years have not received an influenza vaccine this year and are at risk.
“Additionally, fewer at-risk adults have received a Covid-19 vaccine in the past year compared to the year before.”
The committee noted that:
- Reported influenza activity has increased since early May 2025, which is consistent with expected seasonal patterns. Although influenza A is the most common strain, there has been a higher proportion of influenza B infections compared to last year, particularly in school-aged children. Influenza continues to be a significant disease in children.
- Hospitalisations due to influenza have increased as the season has progressed, particularly among children under five years and adults over 65 years.
- Reported covid-19 activity has been decreasing since late June 2025 and is much lower than previous years. Despite this, covid remains the leading cause of acute respiratory infection mortality.
- Reported RSV activity has also shown a seasonal increase. Overall case numbers are lower than observed last year, most notably in infants.
The full influenza vaccination report is available here.
