Uptake of influenza vaccine among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island adults in north Queensland, 2002.

Since 1999, the Commonwealth has provided free annual influenza vaccine for all at-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. The uptake of the vaccine in this population in north Queensland in 2002 was determined using the state-wide computerised immunisation register. Although 59.4 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 50 years or over were vaccinated, the uptake in this age group exceeded 80 per cent in only the Cape York and Torres Strait and North Peninsula Area Health Service Districts (HSDs). Assuming that a third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults 15-49 years of age had a medical risk factor, it was estimated that 85 per cent of those at-risk were vaccinated. There was considerable variation between HSDs, ranging from 159 per cent uptake in the Torres Strait and North Peninsula Area Health Service District to 48.7 per cent in the Cairns HSD.