Australia's state government of New South Wales (NSW) on Monday urged parents to vaccinate young children immediately against influenza A/H1N1 ahead of a possible epidemic this winter.

The second wave of A/H1N1 flu is expected to break out in the next few months, and with children now returning to schools, doctors and community health centers are prepared.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the 2009 A/H1N1 flu was likely to be the dominant flu strain in 2010, but she could not predict how widespread it might be.

"Older people aged over 65 appear to have some sort of immunity to the flu, and that's possibly because they encountered a similar strain very, very long ago, so they have immunity," she said.

"So what we saw with A/H1N1 flu last year was a younger age group hit hard, the nought to fives hit particularly hard."

According to the Australian Medical Association, 600 children were admitted to hospital in NSW with the virus between May and September last year, many suffering severe complications and some requiring intensive care.

In the same period, 1,267 people in total were admitted to hospital in NSW with swine flu, according to NSW Health.

During that time, there were 51 deaths in Australia from the virus.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2010)