Ontario experts are urging everyone to get their flu shot this year in order to prevent the health-care system from being flooded with both influenza and COVID-19 patients as the province grapples with a potential second wave.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto, infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said while it’s important to get the vaccine every year, it’s even more important during a global pandemic.
“People often think it’s just the sniffles or a cold, but it’s not,” Bogoch said. “It can be a very, very serious infection, especially in elderly populations, in young children and in people with underlying medical conditions.”
“It’s nasty and it’s incredible that a vaccine is available.”
According to the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), influenza kills an estimated 3,500 Canadians and hospitalizes 12,000 Canadians in a year—yet only about 40 per cent of the adult population gets the flu shot.
This year, with the threat of a COVID-19 resurgence, experts are saying that getting the flu shot will not only protect an individual from influenza, but it may also help prevent the spread of the virus to others and help keep people out of health-care centres.
Dr. Samantha Hill, president of the OMA, told CTV News Toronto that if an outbreak of influenza happened as the province was dealing with a second wave of COVID-19 it would “really strain the system, which is already working overtime to prevent surges in hospitals and community clinics.”
“With COVID-19 at the moment, all we can do is social distancing and hand hygiene and masking. But with the flu, we do have the option of getting the flu vaccine that, you know, depending on the year is variably effective but it is our best defense.”
Speaking on the potential strain on the health-care system, Bogoch added “we know it’s already going to be busy with COVID-19 cases, especially in the fall, in the winter.”
“If we can reduce the burden on the health-care system through high uptake of influenza vaccine, we’ll be doing something right. Anyone who is on the fence, this is the year to get it.”
When is the flu shot going to be available in Ontario?
Experts say the flu shot should be available in the next few weeks, but the Ontario Ministry of Health was unable to confirm that information. In an email to CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson said the ministry is working with the federal government and participating programs to gain access to the influenza vaccine “as soon as possible this fall.”
“More details on timing for influenza vaccination will (be) available soon.”
The ministry has also not confirmed how many doses of the vaccine they will be ordering, but said they ordered 4.72 million doses for the 2019-2020 influenza season in Ontario.
“Ontario has been working with federal, provincial and territorial partners through the National Bulk Purchasing Program to secure additional doses of influenza vaccine for the 2020-2021 season,” the ministry said. “Ontario has ordered more of the high dose vaccine to further protect seniors.”
Hill said that while people may think it would have been better for the flu shot to be rolled out earlier, it’s done in the fall because the influenza virus can continue to mutate throughout the flu season.
“One of the reasons it doesn’t get rolled out in like, August, is because by the time the main flu season came around, you would have essentially selected out for a virus that isn’t part of that stream.”
“In some ways the more effective, the vaccine is, the more other streams will try and populate.”
Hill added that it will be important to prioritize the high-dosage flu shot for seniors and those with acute medical conditions as there will likely be a limited supply.
If you think you have the flu, what should you do?
The symptoms of COVID-19 and influenza are incredibly similar—so much so that doctors say there is pretty much no clinical way to distinguish the two.
Symptoms that overlap can include fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, runny nose, muscle pain and headaches.
Instead of going into a doctor’s office, the OMA is urging anyone who experiences these symptoms to stay home, call their physician or Telehealth Ontario, and get a COVID-19 test if necessary.
“Try not to go out in public unless you have to,” Hill said. “So, you shouldn’t be going, not just to your doctor’s office, but you shouldn’t be going to work, you shouldn’t be going shopping, you shouldn’t be going for a walk in the park unless you absolutely need to get something and there’s no one else who can help you. As soon as you start to have any of the COVID symptoms you should basically be self-isolating.”
At the same time, Hill added that physicians are available to see patients in-person if someone is feeling unwell.
“Call your doctor figure out what the best way to move forward is,” she said.
“It is important to remember those two facts, that one is once you start to get sick you should be staying home, and that if you’re really not feeling well or even if you’re not sure, that you can always call your doctor for more information and more advice.”
Are doctors prepared for the flu season this year?
Both Hill and Bogoch have said that while many physicians have moved some of their services online, they are prepared to provide the flu shot in-person.
“I think this stage in the game is, we know what physical distancing is, we know what mask wearing is, we know what hand hygiene is,” Bogoch said. “I think we will be able to (distribute the flu shot) in a safe and responsible manner.”
The OMA agreed, but also said they are working with the government to help create more physically distanced spaces for people to get their flu shot and to ensure that health-care workers have enough personal protective equipment.
“A lot of physician’s offices aren’t modifiable,” Hill added. “They lack the kind of infrastructure that you need to safely see the volume of the patients, which is why they have been seeing them by virtual care when possible.”
“It’s challenging to visualize being able to see the 340,000 patients a day that Ontario doctors were seeing without other systemic changes and that’s been part of an ongoing discussion that we’ve been having with government and we are committed to working collaboratively.”
Who should get the flu shot?
The flu season typically runs from late fall to early spring. It is recommended that everyone older than six months should get the flu shot. Those under the age of four should get it at their doctor’s office or a local public health unit, while anyone else is permitted to get it at a pharmacy or clinic.
For those over the age of 65, there is a high-dose vaccine available.
Officials say that it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to take effect.
At the same time, health professionals are still urging everyone to remain vigilant and practice proper hand hygiene and physical distancing—as both will help curb the spread of COVID-19 and the flu.
“Especially as everyone’s going back to school and things are getting hairier and the numbers are climbing up a little bit. We knew that this was going to be what the fall looks like, it’s not a surprise to anyone. But I think people are getting tired,” Hill said.
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.
