Stay safe this flu season: Protect yourself and those around you by getting vaccinated
2 June 2025
Stay safe this flu season: Protect yourself and those around you by getting vaccinated
As the weather cools down in most parts of Australia, it’s important to protect yourself and your family against serious illness by booking your 2025 influenza vaccination.
Influenza, also called ‘the flu’, is a highly contagious virus which can be serious. Annual vaccination is the best protection against the most common strains of the virus.
Everyone aged 6 months and over is recommended to get vaccinated against the flu every year. Free flu vaccines are now available through the Australian Government’s National Immunisation Program for people most at risk of serious illness and complications. This includes:
- children aged 6 months to under 5 years
- pregnant people at any stage of pregnancy
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 6 months and over
- people aged 65 years or older
- people aged 6 months and over with certain medical conditions.
In some states and territories, flu vaccines may also be provided for free to some groups that are not listed above. Speak to your health professional or contact your state or territory department of health to see if you are eligible.
If you’re not eligible for a free vaccine, you can buy the vaccine through your vaccination provider.
You can get your flu vaccines at general practices (GP), pharmacies, and in some areas, community health centres and immunisation clinics. Many workplaces also offer annual flu vaccines.
In 2024, the highest notification rates for the flu were in children under 9 years. Worryingly, the vaccine uptake was low in this group. More deaths involving influenza were recorded last year than in 2023.
This is an important reminder that the flu is not the common cold. The flu is a viral illness that can cause severe illness, hospitalisation and even death among otherwise healthy people.
So far in 2025, there has been a higher proportion of influenza B cases at this time than in some previous years, particularly in school-aged children and young adults. In children, influenza B can be more common and result in more severe infections than influenza A.
The good news is that all flu vaccines available in Australia cover both influenza A and B. This makes the seasonal influenza vaccine very effective at protecting people from needing to visit their GP or go to hospital due to complications from influenza infection.
Getting vaccinated while pregnant is the best way to protect you and your baby from the flu. The flu vaccine is safe and free at every stage of pregnancy. If you received your yearly flu vaccination before you were pregnant, it’s important to have another one during pregnancy. This protects your unborn baby from the virus.
By getting vaccinated, you are protecting yourself and those around you from serious illness.
