{"id":107545,"date":"2025-08-30T22:52:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/107545\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T22:52:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:52:19","slug":"queensland-flu-season-marked-by-high-rates-of-hospitalisations-questions-around-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/107545\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland flu season marked by high rates of hospitalisations, questions around vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite official numbers suggesting Queensland’s respiratory illness season is nothing out-of-the-ordinary, the state’s hospitals have reported being overwhelmed by infected patients<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts believe this is being influenced by the type of viruses out there, the availability of home testing kits, and growing vaccine scepticism.<\/p>\n

According to the latest data, 64,424 cases of the flu have been reported in Queensland this year which, while significant, is eight per cent lower than this time last year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

6,000 people have been admitted to the state’s hospitals with the flu this year. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)<\/p>\n

According to Queensland Health, 135 people have died with a flu-related illness to date this year and 6,002 have been admitted to hospital.<\/p>\n

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) case numbers are at average levels, and COVID-19 infections are well below the previous two years.<\/p>\n

The latest data shows 400 people were hospital with either flu, RSV or COVID-19 as of August 24.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Andrew Redmond is the Director of Infectious Diseases at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)<\/p>\n

Questions about vaccine efficacyYou think you have the flu. Is it even worth using a RAT?<\/a><\/p>\n

In recent years, the familiar symptoms of the flu might kick us into reaching for at-home testing kits. But on the eve of the next flu season, public health experts say the best approach is what we’ve always done.<\/p>\n

Dr Andrew Redmond, Director of Infectious Diseases at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, said influenza A was the dominant strain in the community.<\/p>\n

“It’s probably three infections with flu A for every one of flu B,” he said.<\/p>\n

While that’s not necessarily unusual, it can lead to more severe illness.<\/p>\n

“Flu A is often a little bit worse than flu B in general, and it has a slightly different response to antiviral treatments that we have.”<\/p>\n

What is unusual is that flu B cases – while still in the minority – are 15 times higher than they were last year, with 15,673 cases reported compared with 1,050 in the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Changes in the prevalent strains of the flu can impact the effectiveness of vaccines. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)<\/p>\n

Dr Redmond said changes like this can impact the efficacy of vaccines, as the strains covered are selected ahead of each flu season.<\/p>\n

“They do this every year by looking at what’s circulating in the northern hemisphere and what’s been in last year’s vaccine and the year before,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We don’t really know until the end of the season how good the matching has been.”<\/p>\n

Dr Redmond said not getting the matching exactly right doesn’t render the vaccine ineffective, but it can impact its potency.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

117,000 people have been diagnosed with one of the three main respiratory viruses so far in 2025. (ABC News: Kym Agius)<\/p>\n

The data isn’t what it used to be<\/p>\n

According to the Queensland Health data, 117,000 people have been diagnosed with one of the three main respiratory viruses so far in 2025.<\/p>\n

Queensland leaders refuse to publicly share flu vaccination status<\/a><\/p>\n

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has told reporters whether he has had a flu vaccination is “between me and my doctor”.<\/p>\n

But in a post-COVID world, many who get sick don’t seek a diagnosis from a healthcare professional, meaning their virus is not included in the data.<\/p>\n

“Because of the widespread availability of the rapid antigen test (RAT), lots of people can just go to the chemist, do a test, and stay home,” Dr Redmond said.<\/p>\n

“So [pre-pandemic] our pathology-based reporting systems were much more reliable than they are now.”<\/p>\n

Dr Redmond explained hospitalisation data is also a potentially skewed metric, given people are living longer and are more likely to have suppressed immunity than in decades past.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean public health officials are flying blind, however.<\/p>\n

Instead of comparing case numbers year-on-year, they tend to look at the percentage of tests which come back positive as well as trends in notifications to assess the amount of virus in the community.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Experts warn there are growing rates of scepticism about vaccines. (Getty Images: Iparraguirre Recio)<\/p>\n

Scepticism taking a toll<\/p>\n

Health officials say vaccine confidence has been declining in recent years, in part due to difficulty assuring people the risks of not getting a vaccine far outweigh the risks of getting one.<\/p>\n

The other significant factor is the proliferation of vaccine conspiracies.<\/p>\n

Data shows 82 per cent of Queenslanders admitted to hospital with the flu to date this year were not vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Dr Lemi Baruh has been studying the impact of these conspiracy theories on vaccine take-up. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Dr Lemi Baruh from the University of Queensland is part of a team who has been studying the impact of conspiracy theories on vaccine take-up.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely a factor,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In all [the] studies we did, belief in misinformation about vaccines or any kind of health misinformation significantly impacts taking protective action.”<\/p>\n

His work, which focused on the US, Singapore and T\u00fcrkiye, found a widespread belief that big pharmaceutical companies, the World Health Organisation (WHO), or big media conglomerates were complicit in the COVID-19 pandemic, or benefited from the public health response.<\/p>\n

Other popular theories questioned vaccine safety, and the intentions of governments who encouraged people to get one.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Researchers say social media is the driving force behind the spread of misinformation. (Getty: Mateusz Slodkowski)<\/p>\n

Dr Baruh found social media was the driving force behind the spread of misinformation, and those who rely on social media for information were more likely to adopt vaccine scepticism.<\/p>\n

He said the global nature of social media meant what happens in the US can impact Australia.<\/p>\n

“A misleading video or a conspiracy theory that gains traction in Ohio, for example, can easily spread here through both private messaging groups and other parts of social media,” Dr Baruh said.<\/p>\n

“It informs scepticism that already exists in the population \u2026 and amplifies that scepticism significantly.”It’s not over yet<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Catherine McDougall said she was encouraged by recent flu vaccination numbers.<\/p>\n

“It’s great more people are taking action \u2026 with another [10,000] Queenslanders getting vaccinated in the past week,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr McDougall warned the end of winter doesn’t necessarily mean coughing will cease being the soundtrack to each morning’s commute or that workplaces will suddenly be flush with staff.<\/p>\n

“While flu case rates have eased, we remain in peak flu season,” she explained.<\/p>\n

“There’s every possibility we could see another spike in cases next week.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite official numbers suggesting Queensland’s respiratory illness season is nothing out-of-the-ordinary, the state’s hospitals have reported being overwhelmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,77024,77026,77025,137,145,26416,94,701,8920,4086,67288],"class_list":["post-107545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dr-andrew-redmond","tag-dr-lemi-baruh","tag-flu-a","tag-health","tag-influenza","tag-influenza-a","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-health","tag-respiratory","tag-university-of-queensland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}