Free nasal spray takes sting out of vaccinating Queensland kids

• The Crisafulli Government is delivering the largest free flu vaccine program in Australia, making it easier for Queenslanders to get vaccinated.
• The Crisafulli Government’s fully funded $31 million program includes the FluMist needle-free nasal spray for children aged two to five years old.
• The FluMist vaccine is being supplied now across Queensland.
• The Crisafulli Government is delivering easier access to health services after a decade of decline. 

Queenslanders are urged to take advantage of the Crisafulli Government’s expanded free flu vaccination program, which now includes for the first time in Australia a needle-free nasal spray for children. 

The FluMist Vaccine provides a needle-free vaccination option, which is now being supplied to General Practitioners and Pharmacies, for children aged two to five-years-old. 

The Crisafulli Government’s $31 million program which launched this month, is the largest free flu vaccination program in Australia – a stark contrast to the former Labor government that left the program unfunded. 

Since the start of 2026, more than 6,690 Queenslanders have tested positive to influenza. It follows almost 100,000 confirmed flu cases in 2025, with 9,687 people hospitalised. 

The Crisafulli Government has also amended legislation to expand the scope of practice for trained health practitioners, meaning vaccinations can now be administered by registered nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners in any location.  

These are just some of the ways the Crisafulli Government is delivering easier access to health services after Labor’s decade of decline, which left Queensland in a Health Crisis with soaring ramping rates and an out of control elective surgery waitlist. 

While it will take time to heal Labor’s Health Crisis, the Crisafulli Government is continuing to pull every lever possible to reduce ramping across Queensland, with ramping rates reaching a five year low in the last quarter of 2025, at 37.3 per cent.