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Over the past decade, multiple initiatives have been implemented to strengthen influenza vaccination programs in Australia, with an increasing focus on children. In this article, we review these changes, the events that prompted them, and how they have influenced influenza vaccine uptake in Australia.
Nasopharyngeal colonisation with nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is associated with development of infections including pneumonia and otitis media. The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) uses NTHi Protein D (PD) as a carrier. Papua New Guinean children have exceptionally early and dense NTHi carriage, and high rates of NTHi-associated disease.
To identify barriers to influenza vaccination of children hospitalised for acute respiratory illness in Australia. A total of 595 parents of children hospitalised with acute respiratory illness across five tertiary hospitals in 2019 participated in an online survey. Multivariate logistic regression identified factors most strongly associated with influenza vaccination barriers.
Latest news & events at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases.
Researchers from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute Australia have shared their expertise with the community in Cockburn, covering topics ranging from respiratory disease in babies to recurring ear infections in kids.
Clinical Professor Tobias Strunk, Dr Andrew Currie and their Neonatal Infection and Immunity Team have become the newest members of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.
Maternal influenza and pertussis vaccination is an important strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality in infants. Previous vaccine safety studies have mostly focused on the association between maternal vaccination and fetal death.
Estimating the temporal trends in infectious disease activity is crucial for monitoring disease spread and the impact of interventions. Surveillance indicators routinely collected to monitor these trends are often a composite of multiple pathogens. For example, "influenza-like illness"-routinely monitored as a proxy for influenza infections-is a symptom definition that could be caused by a wide range of pathogens, including multiple subtypes of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV.
Current immunization guidelines recommend one dose of influenza vaccine for children aged ≥9 years and two doses for younger or vaccine-naïve children. However, children receiving chemotherapy have an attenuated immune response. We performed a prospective open-label study in children undergoing treatment for cancer at Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia, to examine the safety and efficacy of a boosted influenza schedule.
Understanding the geospatial distribution of influenza infection and the risk factors associated with infection clustering can inform targeted preventive interventions. We conducted a geospatial analysis to investigate the spatial patterns and identify drivers of medically attended influenza infection across all age groups in Western Australia.