At a time when the government is considering banning children from attending daycare if they haven’t had vaccinations, a new report has shown that adults are even bigger culprits.

Researchers from the Universities of NSW and Sydney found just half of people over the age of 65 are vaccinated against influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia.

That is despite strong recommendations they have them and a government-funded program to make them free.

And approximately 4.1 million people are under-vaccinated across Australia every year.

Of those, just150,000 or 8.1 per cent of children are under-vaccinated, with 37,000 or 2 per cent being registered vaccine objectors.

Doctors are encouraging everyone to get out and get vaccinated against influenza this year. It is just being made available to doctors and pharmacies now and in 2017 there is expected to be no shortage.

They say the traditional argument from people that they don’t ever get the flu isn’t really relevant. The same could be said about smallpox or polio but that is because years of vaccinating by the majority of the public has wiped those diseases out.

It is hoped that more people getting the flu shot can create a “herd immunity” where less people can contract the disease, which means there is less chance of an outbreak.

In any given year millions of Australians are infected with the flu, with thousands hospitalised with complications and some even dying.

For others, it can mean a week or more of symptoms that include a high fever, muscle aches, chills, sore throat, cough, congestion, headaches and exhaustion.

There’s no reason not to get one. Millions have it every year without any problems and it is a myth that the vaccination can lead to someone contracting the flu.

And while it doesn’t counter every single strain in existence, it is designed to protect against the worst ones for any given year.

Now is the ideal time to go and make that appointment.

Even if you don’t normally get the flu, why not go and get the relatively inexpensive and (almost) painless needle.

It could save someone you care about from potentially weeks of inconvenience and unnecessary health complications.