Fears reopening international borders will see surge in people catching flu and Covid-19

Experts are warning Aussies about a new flurona coming to our shores with the reopening of international borders. See how you can take action.

A surge in influenza cases is expected when Australia’s borders fully re-open on Monday placing Covid-strained hospitals under further pressure.

Experts are pleading with Australians to make an appointment for their flu shot when they become available mid next month.

Flu has been virtually non-existent in Australia for almost two years and many people did not have their flu jab last year, making the population especially vulnerable to the virus.

University of Sydney immunisation expert Professor Robert Booy. Picture: Supplied

“A combination of not being vaccinated and of not being exposed means that your level of immunity does fall. The virus naturally mutates,” University of Sydney immunisation expert Professor Robert Booy said.

“My prediction, with the borders opening … in two weeks, is that flu will be jumping on a plane coming our way.”

“This year’s flu season is likely to be much worse than we have seen in recent years, we are also seeing public health restrictions being dismantled across the country and this will aid its spread,” said Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid.

University Queensland’s Associate Professor Paul Griffin, who is trialling Covid vaccines, said Australia “has one of the most susceptible populations to flu at the moment that we’ve had for some time and when it’s introduced, it could certainly have a significant impact”.

Acknowledging many Australians might be experiencing vaccine fatigue, Prof. Griffin and Prof. Booy said it was possible to get both a Covid booster and the flu jab at the same time.

This would allow people to cut down on both medical appointments and time off work due to side effects.

“A lot of people could get a Covid booster vaccine in one arm and a flu vaccine in the other arm beginning later in March,” said Prof. Booy.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin. Picture: Supplied

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation had approved the practice of delivering both Covid jabs and flu shots on the same day, he said.

Australia’s flu vaccine manufacturer Sequiris said flu vaccine supplies will be available from mid-March.

In bad flu seasons around 1000 Australians will die from the flu and hospitals will be under extra strain as they cope with Covid at the same time.

“We can’t cohort flu and Covid patients because we certainly don’t want to promote or allow to co-infection to happen so we’ll have to isolate those people separately,” Professor Griffin said.

The return of influenza to our shores could also put people at risk of catching Covid and the flu at the same time although such cases are very rare.

“Flurona is one of the names used in headlines and from the relatively limited evidence we have on that it does seem to significantly increase the severity that we see with either infection individually, it is going to be a really big concern,” Professor Griffin said.

The first Covid death in the Philippines in 2020 involved a Chinese citizen who had both Covid and the flu.

It is possible to catch more than one strain of influenza as well as Covid. Picture: Istock

And flurona cases have also been detected in the US, Israel, Brazil and Hungary.

On average there are usually around 100,000 cases of the flu each year in Australia but in 2019 there were 300,000 cases and 948 people died.

In 2021 there were just 750 cases recorded and only one person died from the virus.

Influenza cases around the world plummeted to historically low levels as Covid lockdowns, social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing kept the infection under control. One flu variant — Yamagata — is on the cusp of being eliminated as a result.

Last year the federal government supplied 20.5 million flu vaccines but only 8.8 million were recorded as having been used.

This compares with 9.6 million delivered in 2020 and 7.6 million in 2019.

Originally published as Fears reopening international borders will see surge in people catching flu and Covid-19