This year, the flu vaccine delivered as a nasal spray (FluMist) became available in Australia. It’s registered for use in children 2–17 years, and is available for free in some jurisdictions for certain age groups.

After administration, more than half of children will have a blocked or runny nose, and around one in ten have a fever or headache.
This occurs as the immune system responds locally, in the nose, to the weakened “live” flu strain.

Pregnant women, their unborn babies and newborns are at high risk of flu complications. So women are recommended a flu vaccine at any stage of their pregnancy.

1. Is the flu really so bad?

The flu is also thought to trigger heart attacks, stroke and other cardiovascular disease. In young children, it can trigger febrile seizures (childhood seizures caused by a sudden spike in body temperature).

An injectable flu vaccine in pregnancy provides protection to pregnant women, their unborn infant and their newborn baby.

Frail, older people may have a limited capacity to cope with the stress of infection. So for them, the flu can trigger confusion (delirium), dehydration and cause other body systems to fail.

Common symptoms after this type of flu vaccine include pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain. These symptoms can easily be mistaken for the flu, but they’re actually your body’s response to the haemagglutinin.

The flu is associated with some of the highest rates of hospitalisation compared with other common respiratory viruses, in children and adults.

We routinely combine vaccines and vaccination. Sometimes that’s in a combination vaccine such as the combined diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine or by administering more than one vaccine at a time. Our routine national childhood immunisation schedule usually recommends between two and four vaccines at a time. For adults, it’s recommended to have your flu vaccine at the same time as a COVID booster or the new vaccine against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

Flu vaccines are not generally effective in infants younger than six months. But antibodies transfer from the mother to the baby via the placenta following immunisation, providing protection against infection.

So a flu vaccine is recommended, every year for every Australian child from six months of age.

2. Do kids really need a flu vaccine?

We are exposed to hundreds of different antigens every day. For example, one study found healthy humans have demonstrable immune responses to hundreds of antigens in food. We are also constantly exposed to antigens on our skin and in our gut, and through natural infection. So a small dose of a few antigens in a flu vaccine is not able to “overload” or “overwhelm” the immune system.

The flu weakens the natural defences of the lung. This can allow bacterial or fungal infection to become established, leading to secondary pneumonia.

FluMist does not lead to infection of the lungs and lower airways. So it cannot cause the serious illness or complications we can see with a normal flu infection.

So now’s a good time to protect yourself and others with the flu vaccine. It’s effective, free and widely available for many high-risk groups. Even if you don’t qualify for a free vaccine, it’s still recommended for you and your family.

Studies have examined the safety of flu vaccines in pregnancy. One systematic review compiled results from 40 studies. It found no evidence the injectable flu vaccine was associated with birth defects or stillbirth. Flu vaccines were however associated with lower rates of preterm birth and low birthweight.

3. Does the flu vaccine give you the flu?

Injectable flu vaccines do not contain the flu virus, so cannot give you the flu. These vaccines contain purified haemagglutinin, a protein present on the surface of the flu virus. When you receive this vaccine, your immune system is “primed” to recognise it in the future, should it encounter the flu virus.

Although children with underlying health conditions are more likely to develop complicated influenza, over half of hospitalised cases occur in healthy children.

In 2025, Australia had an estimated 1,744 deaths involving the flu.

Winter is coming, and with the cold weather comes respiratory viral infections, including influenza.

This is what’s called a live-attenuated vaccine. It contains a weakened “live” form of the flu strain that replicates only in the nose rather than deeper inside the body.

There are two types of flu vaccine.

Of half a million flu cases diagnosed in Australia in 2025, about two in five were diagnosed in those under 18 years. This results in thousands of children admitted to hospital with the flu each year.

According to one study, flu was involved in at least 29 children’s deaths in Australia in 2018–23, mostly as a direct cause. Around half of these children were healthy before they contracted the flu.

Uncommonly, the flu virus can directly infect body organs other than the lungs, leading to often severe and devastating diseases. These include infection of the brain (causing encephalitis) or heart (myocarditis).

4. Can the flu vaccine ‘overwhelm’ your immune system?

Here are five common questions you might have about the flu and the flu vaccine, and our answers.

Flu vaccines work by training the immune system on antigens – small, harmless components of the virus.

Most flu infections are relatively mild and uncomplicated – but not all. Experimental studies, where volunteers are infected with the flu virus or rhinovirus (a cause of the common cold), show the flu is associated with more intense symptoms that last longer.

The groups with the highest risk of flu-related hospitalisation are at each end of the age spectrum – young infants and children, and older people, particularly those with other chronic (long-term) illnesses.

5. Is the flu vaccine safe if I’m pregnant?

Two out of three Australian children will avoid a flu infection or flu-related complications with a flu vaccine. That’s a vaccine effectiveness of about 65%.

Nasal spray vaccine

There’s no evidence any of these methods “overload” or “overwhelm” your immune system.

Injectable flu vaccines

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Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which affects the lungs, is mainly found in the United States. If a person becomes infected with this type of hantavirus, within days they will likely experience coughing and shortness of breath.

So, what is hantavirus? And why can it be so deadly?

Globally, there are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 cases of hantavirus each year.

Hantavirus does not typically spread from person to person. However, in rare cases it may spread between people.

What is hantavirus?

Read more:
What is a virus? How do they spread? How do they make us sick?

In a closed environment such as a cruise ship, there are two possible ways passengers could have contracted hantavirus.

People usually develop symptoms within two weeks of being exposed to this virus. Early symptoms include severe headaches, abdominal pain, nausea and blurred vision. More advanced symptoms include low blood pressure, internal bleeding and even acute kidney failure. This disease can be caused by different viruses and some are more deadly than others, meaning between 1% and 15% of cases can be fatal.

Read more:
How do viruses mutate and jump species? And why are ‘spillovers’ becoming more common?

Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment or cure for either type of hantavirus. However, early medical treatment may increase a person’s chance of survival. This can include using respirators, oxygen therapy and dialysis.

It is less contagious than airborne viruses such as COVID and influenza, as it typically does not spread from person to person.

What makes it so deadly?

Although alarming, cases of hantavirus remain are extremely rare. But it can look similar to other respiratory illness, so you should always get symptoms checked. If you’ve been in regions where the virus is found and experience shortness of breath, fever or any other flu-like symptoms, see your GP.

As the investigation unfolds, here’s what we know.

There are two main types of hantavirus, each with different symptoms.

To contain this suspected outbreak, authorities must first ensure any rodents are safely contained and removed from the ship. They should then monitor all passengers for hantavirus symptoms. The virus is diagnosed with a PCR test, similar to those used to diagnose viruses such as COVID.

Given there is no specific treatment for the disease, authorities must help any infected passengers manage their symptoms. This involves checking that they are breathing normally and their kidneys are functioning properly.

Read more:
5 virus families that could cause the next pandemic, according to the experts

The other possibility is that rodents may have entered the ship on cargo, and then spread the disease to passengers through their infected urine or droppings. Other factors such as hygiene standards and food storage practices may have caused the infection to spread more quickly.

The virus is spread by rodents, such as mice and rats, mainly through the urine and droppings of infected animals.

How did it get on a cruise ship?

Authorities are still investigating which type of hantavirus the passengers were exposed to.

Hantavirus is a rare but severe respiratory illness that can cause severe bleeding, fever and even death.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is mainly found in Europe and Asia, but the strain known as the Seoul virus has spread around the world. This form of hantavirus mainly affects the kidneys.

As the illness progresses, they can develop symptoms such as fatigue, fever and muscle aches. They may also get headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. This is the most deadly kind of hantavirus. Tragically, about 38% of people who develop these symptoms die from the disease.

The World Health Organization announced the deaths in a social media statement on Monday, along with one confirmed case of the rare disease. Authorities are investigating another five suspected cases among passengers travelling on the MV Hondius.

One is being exposed to the virus while on a shore excursion.

So, how worried should we be?

Three people have died after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. At least one other passenger is in intensive care in South Africa.

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The bleak outlook is driven by a new strain of H3N2, which emerged over the summer (at the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s season) sporting several mutations. Those changes are not enough to spark the direst of circumstances—a deadly pandemic—but they could help the virus dodge immune responses, resulting in an outsized number of severe illnesses that could put a significant strain on hospitals and clinics.

In the UK, the virus has taken off. The region’s flu season has started around five weeks earlier than normal and is making a swift ascent.

Jim Mackey, who became chief executive of NHS England in April, is bracing for influenza’s wrath. “There’s no doubt this winter will be one of the toughest our staff have ever faced,” Mackey told The BMJ. “Since stepping into this role, the thought of a long, drawn-out flu season has kept me awake at night. And, unfortunately, it looks like that fear is becoming reality.”

Almost all of the UK cases so far this year have been from influenza A strains, with H3N2 accounting for the lion’s share, according to the UK Health Security Agency. The two circulating influenza A strains are the new H3N2 strain and an H1N1 strain, with an influenza B strain circulating at very low rates. In the latest UK data, H3N2 was behind over 90 percent of cases that had their influenza virus type analyzed.

“Of the two seasonal influenza A viruses, the current dominant circulating virus (A/H3N2) tends to cause more severe illness than A/H1N1, particularly in older adults,” Antonia Ho, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Glasgow, said in a statement. And the early start of the flu season only makes things worse, since not as many people are vaccinated early on, Ho added. “From previous experience, influenza waves that start early tend to affect a larger number of people in the population.”

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