Under-fives hospitalised with flu at 10-year high as advisors call for free vaccines

Under-fives are being hospitalised with flu-like illnesses at 75 per 100,000 — a 10-year high — with some ending up in intensive care. Dr Mamaeroa David, chair of the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group, said Māori and Pasifika children were bearing the brunt. She called for the flu vaccine to be made free for all young children.