Families planning to get together for the holidays should consider getting a flu shot and keeping up to date with other vaccinations as part of their preparations, public health officials and medical experts say.
Dr Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, said the flu continues to be well above expectations levels for this time of year, with worrying increases in flu-related hospitalizations, particularly among children.
Data suggests a higher proportion of hospitalizations among people aged 10 to 16 compared to flu seasons before the COVID-19 pandemic, with children under five showing the highest totals to date .
ICU admissions and deaths are also higher than usual among children, Tam said.
“As we quickly approach the holidays, now is the time to get your shots if you haven’t already,” Tam recommended at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Benefits of the flu vaccine
Canadians aged six months and older who are eligible to get their flu shot should do so now to protect themselves as the holiday season approaches, said Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton. . Also, she said, there is usually a transfer of infection from children to adults, especially older adults, during this time of year.
“Holidays are a transmission hotspot. We all get together, we don’t wear our masks, we have a lot of intergenerational visitation,” said Bowdish, Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity. “Getting the flu shot this week will get you into that period of peak protection during the holiday season.”
Additionally, a flu shot can shorten the length of time a person is off work and reduce the severity of symptoms and risk of hospitalization, as well as long-term health risks, such as heart disease and other heart problems, she said.
Getting vaccinated against the flu and COVID-19 also reduces the risk of contracting bacterial co-infections which also lead to hospitalizations, say pediatricians.
Convenience matters
The flu can be severe enough to cause lack of oxygen and breathing difficulties, said Dr. Roger Wong, clinical professor of geriatric medicine at the University of British Columbia.
“The flu vaccine has been shown to be effective and safe in saving lives,” Wong said in an interview. “It’s a message we need to get across.”
Mild flu can lead to a sore throat, fever, muscle aches, sometimes a runny nose, and general fatigue.
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Wong noted that the number of older adults who have received at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccines is well over 90% in Canada. But when it comes to the flu shot, he said, it’s not even close.
The latest overall flu vaccination rates available among the provinces and territories that responded to inquiries from CBC News and The Canadian Press were 30% or lower – and lower among children. For people aged 65 and over, flu vaccination rates range from about 50 to 70 percent.
When Wong asks his patients why they didn’t get the flu shot, he replies that they may not know how serious the flu can be.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of convenience,” he said.
Wong suggests applying lessons learned from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to flu vaccines, such as making the vaccine more readily available and easier to obtain for older adults.
“It’s not nothing, because we know that older people living in a community, many of them are quite housebound and rarely go out,” he said.
At-home outreach — as was common during COVID-19, when teams of nurses, doctors and paramedics gave people the vaccine where they live — could help.
Some 95 million doses COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in two years, according to Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. Last week, Health Canada approved bivalent boosters for children aged five to 11providing protection against newer variants, as well as the ancestral strain.
It’s safe to get the COVID and flu shots at the same appointment, according to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which urges that initial COVID vaccinations be a top priority, with booster doses also recommended for all eligible individuals. The suggested timing of COVID reminders varies.
By protecting ourselves from both COVID-19 and the flu, we also protect our health systems from further stress, Wong noted.
Beyond the holidays, flu shots provide about six months of protection, to carry people through respiratory virus season.
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