Health officials urging vaccination as B.C. leads all provinces in flu infections

Earlier this month, Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the province had secured almost two million doses of this season’s flu vaccine and 1.5 million doses of an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

Appointments began after Thanksgiving starting with people most at risk.

“Vaccinations are the cornerstone of protection,” Dr. Muhammad Mukarram, a medical health officer at Interior Health added. “Last year as well, we had a small spike in the number of cases and once we started giving out immunizations and a major proportion of the population was vaccinated, the cases started to plateau.”

According to the data, flu activity in B.C. was moderate with between 9.8 and 17.7 per cent of cases testing positive for the week ending Oct. 10. Flu activity in Alberta and the territories was low, while all other provinces were reporting very low flu activity.

“These rates tend to fluctuate a lot. For example, tomorrow, you might find out that Ontario has more number of cases,” Mukarram added, noting B.C. rates could be higher because more testing is taking place.

“There is a likelihood that the other provinces are not testing, and obviously what is not tested and documented as a lab confirmed case does not get recorded, so there could be people walking around in other provinces – this is just an assumption – that are not recorded and they would not be able to identify them as a number of cases.”

Manshadi says people have been coming into his pharmacy with symptoms like a cold or a cough, and asking for medication to fight their illnesses. While he added they’re coming in in similar numbers seen last year, because this year’s flu season is here earlier, people are coming in earlier.

“This year, because we are giving away RSV shots for free to pregnant women and people over 75 years old, we’re actually seeing actually lower number of people coming in with RSV problems,” he added.

While appointments for flu shots and COVID vaccines can be booked online, health officials recommend you call around or drop by your local pharmacy to get vaccinated.

“Some people who waiting for flu shots are waiting until the end of November. That’s their appointment time,” Manshadi said. “There are pharmacies that have flu shots, so you just go walk in and get your shots.”

“This season absolutely, if you can get it sooner, the better it is.”

by Victor Kaisar

Health officials urging vaccination as B.C. leads all provinces in flu infections

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