With influenza sending Canadian children to hospital at rates far above normal for this time of year, there are calls for provincial health systems to be more transparent about pediatric flu deaths.
Influenza rarely kills children in Canada. Over the past decade, there have never been more than 13 deaths in a year from the flu among those age 19 or younger, and the pre-pandemic yearly average was nine, according to Public Health Agency of Canada figures.
Yet only a few weeks into this flu season, 11 deaths have already been reported among children and teens across the country, according to research by CBC News.
Flu death numbers not easily available
The provinces have not made it easy to find out how many kids have died from flu this year.
Earlier this month, British Columbia announced publicly that the flu had killed at least five children in November, but only after the details of an internal conversation involving hospital officials was leaked to a media outlet earlier this month.
A child receives her influenza vaccine with her family at a Fraser Health vaccination clinic in Surrey, B.C., on Dec. 7. Experts say the transparent reporting of child flu deaths makes it clear that people should treat the illness seriously. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
At the same time, when CBC News asked other provinces about pediatric flu deaths, officials in Ontario declined to provide any statistics.
Only Alberta provided information right away: two children in that province have died of flu so far this fall. Manitoba reported one death this week, and British Columbia has now confirmed six pediatric deaths linked to flu.
Some experts say providing timely information about the severity of a communicable disease like the flu can help people protect themselves and in this case, their kids.
“Not being transparent about the number of children dying due to the flu is dangerous for our children,” said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s former child advocate. (There is no current child advocate in the province because the position was eliminated by Premier Doug Ford’s government early in its first term.)
“I see no reason why releasing the numbers would be an affront to anybody’s privacy,” said Elman in an interview.
Reporting B.C. deaths triggered surge in flu shots
Dr. Rod Lim, head of pediatric emergency at the London, Ont., Health Sciences Centre, said the take away for people from transparent reporting of child flu deaths is to treat the illness seriously.
“We know that this is an extremely difficult influenza season across Canada,” said Lim during a virtual news conference organized by the Ontario Medical Association this week.
Flu surge has B.C. kids’ hospital double-bunking patients
6 days ago
Duration 4:13
The surge in influenza cases has B.C. Children’s Hospital getting ready to double-bunk patients in single rooms. At least six children have died in B.C. after contracting the flu this fall.
“If the numbers are accurate and reliable, that kind of information can help inform the public and can be useful to encourage people to seek and listen to public health advice,” he said.
B.C.’s revelation of its pediatric flu deaths provides a concrete example of how this can work: it triggered a surge in parents bringing their kids to get vaccinated against the flu.
A spokesperson for the B.C. Coroners Service, which released the statistics, said in an email: “Part of our role is to improve public safety, and we wanted to ensure the public was aware.”
Transparency key, health officials say
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, was asked whether there’s a benefit to public reporting of child flu deaths.
“Information is extremely important for informing the population about measures to take to protect themselves, that is a fundamental aspect of public health,” said Tam in a news conference this week.
In October 2020, doctors at the South Hill Family Health Centre in Vancouver provided flu shots to their patients in their underground parking lot. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The Public Health Agency of Canada’s weekly flu watch report issued Friday tallies only five pediatric deaths so far this season. That is due to a lag after provinces confirm the deaths before they are added to the federal report.
“We’ve gained some capacity from the COVID experience to show that we are capable of monitoring specific health information in real-time in an urgent situation, so I think we can build on that,” said Tam.
When CBC News tried to establish how many children had died from flu in Ontario, three different provincial agencies refused to provide figures.
The office of the chief coroner said the information should come from Public Health Ontario (PHO), but PHO said to ask the Ministry of Health. A spokesperson for the ministry referred a CBC producer back to the public health agency.
Masks, flu vaccines could help reduce pressure on children’s hospitals
Children’s hospitals are being forced to take drastic measures to cope with an intense respiratory virus season, including one pediatric hospice that discharged its respite patients. Experts are calling for concrete solutions immediately.
Separately, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the Ottawa Citizen that information about flu deaths in Ontario is not made public.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, later contradicted that in an interview with CBC News this week and confirmed two pediatric flu deaths.
“We don’t cover up any of those facts,” Moore said on Thursday.
“In Ontario, a sudden death of a child is investigated by a coroner and sometimes it takes time to do all of the investigation and aggregate that data,” Moore said. “But you have a commitment from us, we want to be transparent with all of this data to Ontarians.”
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
