The impact of new universal child influenza programs in Australia: Vaccine coverage, effectiveness and disease epidemiology in hospitalised children in 2018

• Published in: Vaccine 2020-03, Vol.38 (13), p.2779-2787
• Main Authors: Blyth, Christopher C., Cheng, Allen C., Crawford, Nigel W., Clark, Julia E., Buttery, Jim P., Marshall, Helen S., Francis, Joshua R., McRae, Jocelynne, Kotsimbos, Tom, Kelly, Paul M., Macartney, Kristine K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Australia - epidemiology; Child; Child, Hospitalized; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Disease; Epidemiology; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Illnesses; Immunization; Immunization Programs; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype; Influenza Vaccines - administration & dosage; Influenza, Human - epidemiology; Influenza, Human - prevention & control; Laboratories; Morbidity; Oseltamivir; Pediatrics; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Sentinel Surveillance; Vaccination; Vaccination Coverage - statistics & numerical data; Vaccine effectiveness; Vaccine efficacy; Vaccines
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.031

•Compared with 2017, a significant reduction in the burden of influenza was noted Australia-wide in 2018.•Following introduction of state-funded vaccine programs in children 6 month to four years of age, improved vaccine coverage and high vaccine effectiveness was seen.•Efforts to improve vaccine coverage are still required. New jurisdictionally-based vaccination programs were established providing free quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV) for preschool Australian children in 2018. This was in addition to the National Immunisation Program (NIP) funded QIV for Indigenous children and children with comorbid medical conditions. We assessed the impact of this policy change on influenza disease burden and vaccine coverage, as well as report on 2018 vaccine effectiveness in a hospital-based surveillance system. Subjects were recruited prospectively from twelve PAEDS-FluCAN sentinel hospital sites (April until October 2018). Children aged ≤16 years hospitalised with an acute respiratory illness (ARI) and laboratory-confirmed influenza were considered cases. Hospitalised children with ARI who tested negative for influenza were considered controls. VE estimates were calculated from the adjusted odds ratio of vaccination in cases and controls. A total of 458 children were hospitalised with influenza: 31.7% were