Spreading the message<\/p>\n
With Australia\u2019s flu season now underway, vaccination remains the most effective prevention for severe illness \u2013 particularly for young children, pregnant women, older adults and those with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n
But with coverage rates down, the country is more exposed than it should be.<\/p>\n
Prof. Seale says this raises concerns about preventable hospitalisations and long-term complications.<\/p>\n
Improving vaccination rates means making vaccines easier to access, ensuring information is clear and culturally appropriate \u2013\u00a0and it means working with communities, not just targeting them.<\/p>\n
Australians aged 65+ years can receive the influenza for free. As of May 15, anyone aged 75+ years can also receive the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine for free, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people eligible from the age of 60.<\/p>\n
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can be dangerous for adults who have certain medical conditions, are elderly or frail, or live in a nursing home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the RSV vaccine now available for free for older adults in Australia, it is critical we ensure all our community members are accessing this and all the other vaccines that support healthy ageing,\u201d Prof. Seale says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on equity, making sure everyone has the opportunity, the information and the support to get vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n
To check what vaccines you\u2019re eligible for, speak to a GP or pharmacist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spreading the message With Australia\u2019s flu season now underway, vaccination remains the most effective prevention for severe illness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,69596,1325,137,111612,111613,129868,25226,337,69597,69598,69600],"class_list":["post-696830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-division-of-equity-diversity-inclusion","tag-general","tag-health","tag-healthy-lives","tag-medicine-health","tag-networks-and-partnerships","tag-prosperity","tag-research","tag-sdg","tag-sdg3","tag-social-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696830","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=696830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}