St George and Sutherland Shire residents are being urged to ring ahead for a flu shot at their GP or medical centre, with a shortage of the vaccine due to unprecedented demand.
Vaccines are being rationed out to practices and pharmacies across the region – and nationwide – due to the shortage.
Rationing of flu vaccines is set to continue into early winter as health authorities prioritise the most at-risk groups amid the shortage.
The unprecedented demand for the seasonal vaccines follows concerted state and national campaigns to lift flu immunisation rates.
According to the states and territories, there has been 25-30 per cent uptake in demand for the flu vaccine.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the horror flu season in 2017 – plus increased awareness about the flu shot – had led to high demand.
The Therapeutics Goods Administration has so far released a total of 9.6 million doses of vaccines through the National Immunisation Program (NIP) , state programs and the private market, compared to 8.3 million in 2017.
NSW Health had already distributed almost two million doses of state and national program influenza vaccines, around half a million more than in 2017.
Dr Vicky Sheppeard, NSW Health Director of Communicable Diseases said national stocks were "very tight".
The most constrained stock were the vaccines for over 65s, she said.
Flu shots are available for free under the NIP to pregnant women and people who are over 65, Aboriginal or have medical conditions.
“All vaccine supplies for adults under the NIP are constrained at this point,” Dr Chant said.
“As a precaution, we’re restricting the quantities of vaccines we’re distributing to GPs, so are advising anyone who is yet to have the vaccine to call ahead.”
The NSW Government is also providing free vaccines for children up to five years old this year, and Dr Chant stressed that the supply of this vaccine was not affected.
She also said that the number of flu cases remained low in NSW this year, and there was no indication of an early start to the flu season.
Dr Chant said the NSW Government was working closely with the Commonwealth to ease the shortage, with additional supplies expected from overseas within a fortnight.
However Labor’s health spokesman Walt Secord said the state government had “bungled” the roll-out: “It is mind boggling that the Berejiklian Government would be encouraging patients to seek out the government-funded free flu vaccines, but then failing to ensure there is enough of the vaccine”.
