Many pharmacies across Ballarat have run out of influenza vaccines amid "insane" demand for vaccinations as the flu season hits hard and early.
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UFS pharmacy clinical advisor Peter Fell said his chain ran out of flu shots in Ballarat this week "though we lasted a bit longer than most others".
The pharmacy chain has secured another 1000 doses of vaccine which should be available by the end of next week.
"The uptake has been extraordinary this year," he said. "At our bigger pharmacies we've been doing up to 50 or 60 vaccinations a week over the past month to six weeks. It got to the point where we were having to roster extra staff as we had one pharmacist tied up doing vaccinations."
In Ballarat there have been 162 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza so far this year, compared to 20 for the same period last year, but the number of likely to be much higher with many flu victims not being formally tested. There were just 84 confirmed cases of flu in Ballarat for the whole of 2018.
Mr Fell said anyone who still wanted to be vaccinated could go on a waiting list to be contacted when the fresh stock arrived.
The head of Chemist Warehouse said their stores were almost out of flu vaccine nationwide, with just 5000 left across the country out of 200,000 doses ordered at the start of the season.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt said the federal and state-funded free flu vaccines were still available from GPs for the most at-risk groups (including young children, pregnant women and the elderly) and their supply was secure.
Mr Hunt said Australia was on track for a record number of flu vaccinations in 2019.
"Already over 12.1 million flu vaccines have been released into the market, including 7.5 million for the National Immunisation Program (NIP) and state and territory vaccination programs and 4.6 million doses for the private market," Mr Hunt said.
"I have been working with vaccines companies to ensure that there is sufficient supply in the private market."
It is expected a further 400,000 doses of influenza vaccine will be available within weeks.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi will supply the extra stock of FluQuadri vaccines, which will be available through GPs and pharmacies, Mr Hunt said.
"This will take the overall number of flu vaccines available in Australia this year to over 12.5 million, an increase from 11 million in 2018," Mr Hunt said.
As of May 19, there have been 55,240 confirmed flu cases across Australia in 2019 and the infection has killed 119 people including 26 in Victoria.
Mr Fell said the high take-up rate of influenza vaccine was good news for the community, helping reduce the spread of the disease.
"I think one of the benefits of being able to offer vaccines in pharmacies is we capture a lot of the public who wouldn't make the effort to make a doctor's appointment and go in, and we get a lot where a wife or husband brings their partner in to have it on the spot," he said.
"We have probably done maybe 40 or 50 per cent more vaccinations than we did last year," he said.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A FREE VACCINE
- all children aged six months to less than five years
- all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged from six months
- all adults aged 65 years and over
- all people aged from six months with medical conditions predisposing them to severe influenza; for example, sever asthma, lung or heart disease, low immunity or diabetes
- pregnant women
WHY HAVE A FLU SHOT
- The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely that the flu will spread in the community. Influenza is a major cause of illness in the Australian community, and in some cases can result in death.
- It important to get the flu shot each year, as the virus changes each year.
WHAT DOES IT COVER
Influenza virus strains included in the 2019 seasonal influenza vaccines are:
- A (H1N1): an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09 like virus
- A (H3N2): an A/Switzerland/8060/2017 (H3N2) like virus
- B: a B/Colorado/06/2017 like virus (not included in the trivalent vaccine)
- B: a B/Phuket/3073/2013 like virus
HOW IT WORKS
Most people will develop immunity within two to three weeks of vaccination. As influenza usually occurs from June, with the peak around August, vaccinating from mid-April allows people to develop immunity before influenza transmission is at its peak.
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