Fewer Queenslanders will have access to free influenza protection if the LNP decides the program isn’t effective enough for the cost.
The LNP government in Queensland has raised the spectre of cutting the state’s free influenza vaccination program after three years.
The new health minister Tim Nicholls flagged that he wanted to consider the program’s efficiency before he made the decision.
The problem with that is GPs and pharmacists need to start planning their stock needs now, said AMA Queensland president Dr Nick Yim.
“It is really important that next year our community, our state, continues to have these free flu immunisations,” Dr Yim told the Courier Mail.
“And I think we do need to make that decision, because GPs and pharmacists need to start planning for our stock purposes moving into next year.”
Last year the decision to extend the program through 2024 was made in mid-November.
The free flu vaccination program has cost the government more than $40 million across two years, however the number of people who received a vaccination was lower in 2024 than in 2021 – a decrease attributed to immunisation fatigue caused by the covid pandemic.
In 2024, 31.5% of Queenslanders, approximately 1.75 million, got a free vaccination.
The free vaccinations program is on top of the provisions of the National Immunisation Program. Queensland is the only state to provide it.
HSD reached out to Queensland Health for comment.
