Today the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said European nations must work to increase their seasonal influenza vaccine uptake as the respiratory infection season approaches, especially among healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, while Australia reports low vaccine coverage as flu cases skyrocket.
Across the continent, vaccination levels are targeted toward 75%, but during the 2024-25 season most countries reported flu vaccination coverage well below 50%, the ECDC said.
“Only Denmark (76%), Ireland (75%), Portugal (71%) and Sweden (68%) reached or approached the 75% EU coverage target. Among healthcare workers, this level was even lower, with a median of 32%,” ECDC wrote.
Only 1 in 4 young Australian kids have been vaccinated
Australian health officials also said seasonal influenza vaccine uptake has been low during a record-breaking flu season.
More than 410,000 lab-confirmed cases of have been reported, but only 25.7% of children aged 6 months to 5 years were vaccinated so far in 2025. The previous high for cases, set last year, was 365,000.
This is not a record we want to be breaking, we must boost vaccination rates and reverse this trend.
“This is not a record we want to be breaking, we must boost vaccination rates and reverse this trend,” said the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) President Michael Wright, MBBS, PhD, MPH, in a press release from the RACGP. “This should act as a wake-up call to all patients across Australia.”
Overall flu cases are 10.8% higher than last year across Australia. As of yesterday, there were 17,600 lab-confirmed cases in October, more than double the 7,201 cases seen in the same month last year. Vaccine uptake in people older than 65 years is at 60.5%, the lowest since 2020.
