Rosie Andersen had been sick with the flu for a number of days before she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday morning at the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully.

Victoria's deputy chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton said that Australia needed to discuss making the flu vaccination free for all children.

"I think it's a national conversation that needs to be had," he said.

Free vaccines are available for children in the UK, Dr Sutton said.

In Australia, free vaccines are offered to people aged 65 and over, most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, pregnant women and those who suffer from chronic conditions.

Flu shots can be as low as $11 but, coupled with the cost of visiting a GP, the price of vaccinating can often be greater.

Providing free flu vaccines for children would involve an expansion of the National Immunisation Program. But Dr Sutton said the benefits would spread to the community as a whole.

"The experience internationally is ... the more [children] can be immunised and fewer barriers there are for them to be immunised, the less that the elderly need to worry about being exposed to [the flu]."

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy to examine if there are ways to strengthen the National Immunisation Program, a spokesman said.

This includes holding talks with manufacturers on new and strengthened vaccines.

Rosie's devastated father, Christian Brealey???, has made a plea for parents to get their children immunised.

"We urge everyone to get their kids immunised against the flu," he said in a statement.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beautiful, loving little angel. Words cannot describe the depths of our grief."

Rosie's death follows that of young father Ben Ihlow on Father's Day.

The deadly strain of flu has killed at least 97 people in Victoria, including 95 in aged-care facilities, so far this year.

Public hospitals are scrambling to cope with the influx of patients, cancelling some elective surgery and making arrangements with private facilities to house the overflow of patients.

Additional ambulances had been introduced to meet the increased number of callouts.

"We are dealing with a horror flu season and we're not quite sure when or where it will finish," Health Minister Jill Hennessy said.

She urged Victorians not to dismiss flu symptoms as "simply a cold" or "'man flu'".

"Get to the doctor, call Nurse on Call, call an ambulance if you feel someone is very unwell. But don't ignore the flu symptoms. It needs to be taken seriously."

More than 160,000 people have contracted the flu in Australia so far this year, Health Department figures show, compared with 75,818 recorded cases for the same time last year.

In Victoria, there have been more than 13,000 recorded cases.

The Royal Children's Hospital treated a total of 290 confirmed flu cases up to September 14, an increase of 126 on the same period last year.

Monash Children's Hospital has treated 247 children for flu since June 1 at its Clayton, Dandenong and Casey hospitals.

It is estimated that flu contributes to more than 3000 deaths in Australia each year.