In:
Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, Vol. 44 ( 2020-7-15)
Abstract:
Following Australia’s severe influenza season in 2017, the health departments of the states and territories commenced funding in 2018 of influenza vaccine for all children aged six months to five years. As the national immunisation register has recently been extended to include recording of vaccination for all age groups, Australia’s community-based influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance system, Flutracking, was used to explore influenza vaccine coverage in participants.
Flutracking participants respond to a weekly survey about ILI from April to October each year. Participants report their influenza vaccine status with the current year’s vaccine in the first weekly survey, and if unvaccinated (or unknown), participants are prompted with the question weekly until the end of the Flutracking season. Detailed methods for Flutracking are available elsewhere.1 Self-reported vaccine coverage by age group ( 〈 5 years, 5 to 17 years, 18 to 64 years and ≥65 years) was calculated at 21 October (timing of the final 2018 Flutracking survey) for participants who had completed at least one survey in 2018. The five-year average was calculated for the percentage vaccinated at the end of the Flutracking survey for the years 2013 to 2017, and compared to 2018.
Flutracking received ethics approval from the University of Newcastle (# 06/03/22.403) in 2006. In 2009 the program applied to the University of Newcastle to exit the ethics committee review as Flutracking had been incorporated into the national influenza surveillance system. The total number of participants completing at least one survey increased from 18,437 in 2013 to 45,532 in 2018. Flutracking participants are more likely to be female (59.8% compared to 50.4%) and more likely to have completed a postgraduate degree (22.6% compared to 3.6%) than the general Australian population.2 A relatively large proportion of Flutracking participants are health care workers, working face to face with patients (17.5%).
Keywords: flutracking, vaccine coverage, influenza vaccine, influenza like illness, community based surveillance
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2209-6051
DOI:
10.33321/cdi.2019.44
DOI:
10.33321/cdi.2020.44.57
Language:
English
Publisher:
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
Publication Date:
2020
