Flu shots advised now — before the ‘hot spot’ of holidays | 24CA News
Families planning to assemble for the vacations ought to take into account getting vaccinated in opposition to influenza and keep updated on different immunizations as a part of their preparations, public well being officers and medical specialists say.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public well being officer, mentioned influenza continues to be effectively above anticipated ranges for this time of yr, with worrisome will increase in flu-related hospitalizations, significantly amongst youngsters.
Data suggests a better proportion of hospitalizations amongst these aged 10 to 16 in contrast with flu seasons that got here earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, with youngsters underneath 5 displaying the very best totals to this point.
ICU admissions and deaths are additionally increased than standard amongst youngsters, Tam mentioned.
“As we rapidly approach the holidays, now is the time to get vaccinated if you have not already done so,” Tam beneficial at a news convention in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Flu shot’s pluses
Canadians aged six months and older who’re eligible to get a flu shot ought to achieve this now to guard themselves heading into the vacation season, mentioned Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton. Plus, she mentioned, there tends to be a switch of an infection from youngsters to adults, particularly older adults, throughout this time of yr.
“The holidays are a hot spot of transmission. We all get together, we don’t have our masks on, we have lots of intergenerational visiting,” mentioned Bowdish, who holds the Canada Research Chair on Aging and Immunity. “Getting a flu shot this week will get you into that prime period of protection over the holiday season.”
What’s extra, a flu shot can scale back the time somebody is off sick from work, and cuts the severity of signs and danger of hospitalization, in addition to long-term well being dangers, like cardiac arrest and different coronary heart circumstances, she mentioned.
Getting vaccinated for influenza and COVID-19 additionally reduces the prospect of getting bacterial co-infections which can be additionally resulting in hospitalizations, pediatricians say.
Convenience counts
Influenza will be critical sufficient to result in not having sufficient oxygen and issue respiratory, mentioned Dr. Roger Wong, a medical professor of geriatric drugs on the University of British Columbia.
“The flu shot has been proven to be effective and safe in saving lives,” Wong mentioned in an interview. “That’s a message that we need to get out.”
Mild influenza can result in a sore throat, fever, muscle aches, generally a runny nostril and total fatigue.
CBC senior well being reporters Christine Birak and Lauren Pelley focus on what probably the most distinguished well being points can be in 2023, together with why 2023 may very well be a make-or-break yr for Canada’s strained health-care system and the way forward for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wong famous that the variety of older adults who’ve acquired no less than three doses of COVID-19 vaccines is effectively over 90 per cent in Canada. But with regards to the influenza vaccine, he mentioned, it isn’t even shut.
The newest out there total influenza immunization charges among the many provinces and territories that responded to requests from 24CA News and The Canadian Press have been 30 per cent or under — and decrease amongst youngsters. For these aged 65 and older, flu vaccination charges fluctuate from about 50 to 70 per cent.
When Wong asks his sufferers why they have not acquired a flu shot, he mentioned they often do not know the way critical influenza will be.
“Sometimes it’s about the convenience factor,” he mentioned.
Wong suggests making use of classes discovered from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to flu pictures, akin to making the shot extra available and simpler to get for older adults.
“This is not a small thing, because we know that older adults living in a community, many of them are quite homebound and they rarely get out,” he mentioned.
Home outreach — as was widespread throughout COVID-19, when groups of nurses, docs and paramedics gave the vaccine to individuals the place they stay — might assist.
Some 95 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in two years, based on Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Last week, Health Canada authorised bivalent boosters for kids aged 5 to 11, providing safety in opposition to more moderen variants, in addition to the ancestral pressure.
It is protected to get COVID and flu pictures on the identical appointment, based on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which urges preliminary COVID immunizations as a prime precedence, with booster doses additionally beneficial for everybody eligible. The advised timing for COVID boosters varies.
Protecting ourselves in opposition to each COVID-19 and influenza additionally protects our health-care programs from additional pressure, famous Wong.
Going past the vacations, influenza vaccines provide about six months of safety, to hold individuals via the respiratory virus season.
