I had mine two weeks ago – when I was in Australia.
So what possessed this columnist to travel to the antipodes to get his annual influenza shot?
Well, firstly, my visit to Melbourne was to see my daughter, who lives there. Secondly, we flew out on the same day the flu vaccine became available in Ireland, which meant we couldn’t get the vaccine before travelling. And while we were in Australia we became aware of high rates of influenza throughout the country, including a late surge in their spring, which is unusual. It is the equivalent of Ireland having a surge in influenza cases in April, which is usually the month when flu infections here peter out.
The indications from down under are that we are likely to face a difficult influenza season here linked to the global spread of an evolving influenza A (H3N2) strain of the virus.
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The H and N nomenclature used to identify particular subtypes of influenza A refers to proteins on the surface of the virus. One is called neuraminidase (N) and it enables the replicating influenza virus to break away from the cell it initially invaded and to spread throughout the body. There are nine types of neuraminidase. The other is haemagglutinin (H), of which there are 12 basic types; it is the means by which the virus enters the cells of its host.
There have been record case counts of influenza throughout the southern hemisphere this year (their winter). In Australia, doctors sounded the alarm after more than 410,000 lab-confirmed cases were recorded across the country, marking 2025 the second record high flu year in a row.
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The startling case numbers have already outstripped the previous all-time high of 365,000, recorded last year, with Royal Australian College of GPs president Dr Michael Wright describing the latest figures as a wake-up call. “This is not a record we want to be breaking; we must boost vaccination rates and reverse this trend,” he said.
While influenza case numbers are soaring in Australia, flu vaccination rates have plateaued or are trending in the opposite direction: rates for patients over the age of 65 have slipped, with the 60.5 per cent rate the lowest since 2020.
By comparison, Health Protection Surveillance Centre statistics show the flu vaccine uptake rate among people aged 65 and older in Ireland last winter was 75.7 per cent.
The final push for our decision to get vaccinated down under was that we were travelling home via Perth in Western Australia. Health authorities there said an unusual late-season surge in a severe strain of influenza, which mostly affects older people, was behind an increase in flu cases across the state in the previous two weeks. We decided that protection was the better part of valour, given our stay in WA before catching our flight home and the likelihood of our fellow passengers bringing the infection on board with them.
That late spike in the H3N2 subtype of influenza A comes amid warnings that mutations of the virus overseas are behind an early, and potentially severe, flu season in the northern hemisphere. In late October UK health officials announced its flu season had arrived more than a month earlier than usual, with cases three times higher than last year.
Our decision brought an unexpected bonus: we were immunised with a “souped-up” version of the flu vaccine. Our quadrivalent Aussie vaccine contained adjuvants – the addition of nonviral material to the injection – which makes the immune system more likely to respond to the vaccine.
It was to be introduced for older people in Ireland this year following a recommendation by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) but this was quietly nixed by the Minister for Health on cost grounds.
With a nasty flu virus on the way, let’s hope that penny pinching doesn’t come back to haunt us.
