Australia’s Flu Fatalities Hit Record High Last Year; Experts Warn of Potential ‘Super-K’ Threat

In January, Australia faced a grim reality as influenza claimed the lives of 63 individuals, a statistic that almost doubled the numbers typically recorded for the same period in previous years.

“We could easily face a similar situation this year, and it might even be worse with the emergence of this new ‘Super-K’ variant,” Rait remarked in an interview with nine.com.au.

Rait attributes the repeated bouts of severe flu seasons to Australia’s consistently low flu vaccination rates over recent years. He has expressed concern that these declining numbers are setting the stage for continued public health challenges.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routines, more than half of Australians regularly received their annual flu vaccinations. Today, that number has dwindled to approximately one-third of the population, raising worries about the nation’s preparedness against future flu outbreaks.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of all Australians were receiving a flu shot – now, that figure is closer to one in three.

Older people and children under the age of five are at increased risk of flu-related death.

But in 2025, only 25 per cent of children under five received a flu shot, while 60.5 per cent of people over 65 were vaccinated. – the lowest number in six years.

In the 46 patients studied, getting vaccinated only prompted a 1.7 to 2-fold increase in patients’ antibodies to H3N2 subclade K – nicknamed ‘Super-K’ – compared to an almost 3-fold increase for other strains.

Combined with a lower baseline immunity to ‘Super-K’ due to it being a new strain, this means those studied had as much as 7.8 times lower levels of antibodies to fight off a ‘Super-K’ infection than previous strains of flu.

However, the AMA said this wouldn’t apply to Australia’s new seasonal flu shot, due to be rolled out next month.

New recommendations by the World Health Organization have seen a subclade K variant incorporated into this year’s trivalent flu shot for Australia, which should boost its efficacy against the ‘Super-K’ strain.

Epidemiologist Dr David Muscatello said the influenza virus was “constantly mutating”, with a significantly new and more infectious strain popping up around once every 10 years.

“The virus is drifting all the time because it’s constantly mutating, so every ten years or so we might see a drift that more easily infects people in the population,” he told nine.com.au.

However, Muscatello was quick to point out that there is no evidence to suggest that the ‘Super-K’ strain causes more serious illness.

There, more than 90 per cent of influenza A cases are now the ‘Super-K’ variant.

So far, 90 children have died from flu-related complications.

The Australian Medical Association is now urging Australians to roll up their sleeves and help boost vaccination rates.

“Super K is much more easily transmitted and clearly with our low vaccination rates, it could well take off in winter when people spend more time indoors together,” Rait warned.

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