Health
Manitoba launches flu clinics amid COVID-19 pandemic – CBC.ca
The annual flu vaccination program in Manitoba started Thursday while the province also faces the worst stretch so far in its COVID-19 pandemic battle.
“This year’s been like no other. It has never been more important for Manitobans to get the flu shot,” Premier Brian Pallister said as he formally launched the program and received his shot from Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer.
“Manitobans have a long and proud history of taking care of each other and facing our challenges together. That is what the flu vaccine does — it protects each of us, and it protects our family, friends and fellow Manitobans.
“I encourage all Manitobans, especially those at increased risk, their caregivers and close family and friends to get the flu shot this fall.”
Roussin recommends everyone six months of age and older get the vaccine as early in the fall as possible.
Regional health authorities will soon begin immunization clinics. A full list of the clinic locations and dates is available on the Manitoba government website.
The province reported a record-setting 146 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. It was the second consecutive day with a new record number — and the fourth in a week.
The flu program is being announced as other provinces worry about vaccine supplies running out.
Ontario health-care providers, from family physicians to hospital workers, have documented a surge in demand and expressed concerns that limited supplies will rapidly dry up.
Roussin expects a similar spike in demand in Manitoba, not just from the general public but also because the 2020-21 campaign is targeting those most vulnerable and their caregivers, with specific outreach to the health-care sector and the public service.
As a result, the province boosted its vaccination order by 20 per cent over a typical year. Right now, 150,000 doses are making their way into clinics and doctors’ offices, Roussin said.
A record 26.3 per cent of Manitobans got the shot last year and Roussin is expecting that number to reach 30 per cent this time around. The province has ordered enough dosages to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population.
The full provincial vaccine allotment is expected to arrive over the next several weeks, barring any external supply or delivery disruptions.
In addition to the provincial clinics, vaccines can be administered by physicians and pharmacists, although the latter can only immunize those seven years of age or older. A physician must vaccinate children age six months to seven years.
The annual vaccination campaign’s slogan takes into account the COVID-19 situation with images of a face mask, mittens and the flu shot needle, alongside the tag line “Add a layer this fall.”
High-dose vaccine
The province has also nearly doubled its order of the high-dose flu vaccine and expanded the eligibility criteria so more seniors can get access.
The high-dose vaccine offers more of an immune boost than the regular vaccine and was previously offered only to those at least 65 years old who were residents of long-term care facilities, clients in interim or transitional care beds, respite care clients or unimmunized residents admitted to long-term care facilities during the flu season.
This year, people 65 and older who meet one of the following criteria are also eligible:
- Residents of supportive and assisted living housing.
- Those who are newly incarcerated or transferred from other federal or out-of-province correctional facilities.
- Those receiving home care services while on a waiting list for admission into a long-term care facility.
- Those living on a First Nation or in a remote or isolated community.
- Those living north of the 53rd parallel.
As a result, the province has nearly doubled its order of that vaccine to 21,500 doses, up from 11,500 last year.
But Wab Kinew, Leader of the Opposition NDP, said the Pallister government should have made the high-dose flu vaccine available to all seniors, period.
“Prairie Mountain Health’s appointment system for flu clinics is already overwhelmed with calls from concerned people wanting to protect themselves and loved ones,” Kinew said.
“As we head into flu season, the health minister needs to offer high-dose flu vaccines free of charge to all Manitoba seniors as we work to flatten the curve and keep families safe.”
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Interior Health says it delivered nearly 800,000 immunization doses last year — a number almost equal to the region’s population.
The released figure of 784,980 comes during National Immunization Awareness Week, which runs April 22-30.
The health care organization, which serves a large area of around 820,000, says it’s using the occasion to boost vaccine rates even though there may be post-pandemic vaccine fatigue.
“This is a very important initiative because it ensures that communicable diseases stay away from a region,” said Dr. Silvina Mema of Interior Health.
However, not all those doses were for COVID; the tally includes childhood immunizations plus immunizations for adults.
But IHA said immunizations are down from the height of the pandemic, when COVID vaccines were rolled out, though it seems to be on par with previous pre-pandemic years.
Interior Health says it’d like to see the overall immunization rate rise.
“Certainly there are some folks who have decided a vaccine is not for them. And they have their reasons,” said Jonathan Spence, manager of communicable disease prevention and control at Interior Health.
“I think there’s a lot of people who are hesitant, but that’s just simply because they have questions.
“And that’s actually part of what we’re celebrating this week is those public health nurses, those pharmacists, who can answer questions and answer questions with really good information around immunization.”
Mima echoed that sentiment.
“We take immunization very seriously. It’s a science-based program that has saved countless lives across the world and eliminated diseases that were before a threat and now we don’t see them anymore,” she said.
“So immunization is very important.”
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.
The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.
“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement.
The announcement comes nearly a month after an avian influenza virus that has sickened millions of wild and commercial birds in recent years was detected in dairy cows in at least eight states. The Agriculture Department says 33 herds have been affected to date.
FDA officials didn’t indicate how many samples they tested or where they were obtained. The agency has been evaluating milk during processing and from grocery stores, officials said. Results of additional tests are expected in “the next few days to weeks.”
The PCR lab test the FDA used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University
“There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that,” Jaykus said.
Officials with the FDA and the USDA had previously said milk from affected cattle did not enter the commercial supply. Milk from sick animals is supposed to be diverted and destroyed. Federal regulations require milk that enters interstate commerce to be pasteurized.
Because the detection of the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 in dairy cattle is new and the situation is evolving, no studies on the effects of pasteurization on the virus have been completed, FDA officials said. But past research shows that pasteurization is “very likely” to inactivate heat-sensitive viruses like H5N1, the agency added.
Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the International Dairy Foods Association, said that time and temperature regulations for pasteurization ensure that the commercial U.S. milk supply is safe. Remnants of the virus “have zero impact on human health,” he wrote in an email.
Scientists confirmed the H5N1 virus in dairy cows in March after weeks of reports that cows in Texas were suffering from a mysterious malady. The cows were lethargic and saw a dramatic reduction in milk production. Although the H5N1 virus is lethal to commercial poultry, most infected cattle seem to recover within two weeks, experts said.
To date, two people in U.S. have been infected with bird flu. A Texas dairy worker who was in close contact with an infected cow recently developed a mild eye infection and has recovered. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program caught it while killing infected birds at a Colorado poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Canada is about where it should be when it comes to childhood vaccines, but for adult vaccinations it’s a different story.
Dr. Vivien Brown of Immunize Canada says the overall population should have rates of between 80 and 90 per cent for most vaccines, but that is not the case.
She says most children are in that range but not for adult vaccines and ultimately the most at-risk populations are not being reached.
She says the population is under immunized for conditions such as pneumonia, shingles, tetanus, and pertussis.
Brown wants people to talk with their family physician or pharmacist to see if they are up-to-date on vaccines, and to get caught up because many are “killer diseases.”
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