NSW Health Minister and Keira MP Ryan Park smiles as he receives his flu vaccination for this year. Photo: NSW Health Minister’s Office.
Falling immunisation rates over the past five years for children under five is leaving thousands of young lives unprotected, according to a South Coast expert.
COORDINARE’s Southern NSW medical director Dr Erica Cameron-Taylor said the current rates of influenza, whooping cough and measles notifications were particularly concerning.
According to NSW Health Respiratory Surveillance Reports, children aged up to four years old and five- to 16-year-olds had the highest influenza notification rates of any age group in 2025.
Dr Cameron-Taylor said whooping cough notifications were the highest since records began, with 82,513 cases in Australia during 2024 and 2025.
In recent months there have been measles exposure sites in the Illawarra and Sydney.
This week is World Immunisation Week and COORDINARE South Eastern NSW Public Health Network is joining with the Illawarra Shoalhaven and Southern NSW local health districts to urge communities to stay up to date with vaccinations to protect themselves and others.
The theme for the week is For Every Generation, Vaccines Work, reminding people that vaccines protect them throughout their lives – from infancy through adulthood – against more than 30 infections and deadly diseases.
According to COORDINARE, the proportion of one-year-olds who are fully vaccinated has fallen over the past five years and in 2025, full vaccination coverage for one-year-olds was only 90.5 per cent.
“High vaccination coverage such as 95 per cent is necessary to achieve herd immunity: the point where diseases find it hard to spread in the community, protecting both the vaccinated and unvaccinated,” Dr Cameron-Taylor said.
“Falling immunisation rates over the past five years for children under five is leaving thousands of young children unprotected.
“Vaccine preventable diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis or whooping cough, polio, hepatitis B and pneumococcal disease can cause severe pain, put children in hospital, risk their lives and leave them with ongoing health problems.
COORDINARE’s Southern medical director Dr Erica Cameron-Taylor is urging people to stay up to date with vaccinations to protect themselves and others. Photo: COORDINARE.
“Children in this age group are also among the most at risk from a severe flu infection.
“Stopping the spread of these diseases and boosting vaccination rates, including for the flu, relieves pressure on our entire healthcare system, including our hospitals.”
A yearly influenza vaccination is recommended for all people aged six months and over.
“Influenza can be serious in healthy people of any age, but some people are at greater risk of complications, especially children under five, pregnant women and adults 65 years and older,” Dr Cameron-Taylor said.
“Influenza vaccinations are important at this time, especially for people who are at risk of severe disease. The influenza vaccine takes about two weeks to boost your immune system and will provide maximum protection for around three to four months.”
A new option for children aged between two and under five – intranasal influenza vaccine – is available in the Illawarra for youngsters who are anxious about needles.
From 15 May Australians aged 75 and over can receive a free RSV vaccination, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are eligible from the age of 60.
“All adults should consider annual COVID-19 and flu vaccines which are safe to be administered together,” Dr Cameron-Taylor said.
“If people have their influenza and COVID vaccines at the same time they will benefit from added protection from both respiratory viruses during the peak flu season, which is generally until October.
Visit the Federal Government’s health website for more information on influenza and the COVID-19 vaccines.
To book your flu vaccine visit Health Direct.
