More children are being admitted to hospitals across Canada amid a flu season crush exacerbated by a stretched health-care system and lack of vaccination, says an infectious disease expert.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CTV’s Your Morning Thursday that with the growing number of flu cases across the country, it’s paramount that all families receive their flu shots.
That includes “kids as young as six months, because we know those vaccines are safe, and they are widely available and they work. They can reduce the chances that someone gets influenza…and it can actually reduce the severity of infection,” he said.
According to Canada’s weekly flu reports, the weekly number of pediatric hospitalizations is now at levels typically seen during peak influenza season. In the week ending Nov. 26, there were 223 flu-associated hospitalizations.
The highest cumulative hospitalization rates are among children under five years old and adults 65 and older, according to the flu report.
Since the first weekly FluWatch report of the season was issued on Aug. 28, 707 children aged 16 and younger have been hospitalized due to flu, and children nine years old and younger account for 50 per cent of the hospitalizations, according to the report.
There is currently a national flu epidemic and influenza activity levels are above what’s expected for this time of year, it states. A total of 8,242, lab detections of flu were reported in the week ending Nov. 26 and over 23,000 cases have been reported so far this flu season.
Like children, seniors are also at risk of experiencing serious effects of the flu.
But other than making flu shots available, there hasn’t been “much done” to protect older populations, said Bogoch.
Vaccine clinics and pop-up clinics need to be accessible to communities as it can be sometimes challenging to sign up, he said.
“There’s few walk-in clinics that are available, but by putting pop-up clinics into community centres, into schools, into grocery stores, into temples, and houses of worship, into malls, where people spend their daily lives, we’d get a lot better uptake,” he said.
On Nov. 29, the National Institute on Aging, a public policy think tank within Toronto Metropolitan University, released a report on how uptake for the flu shot is lower than what’s needed to combat the “multi-demic” of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 that is making its way through populations.
General indifference, lack of awareness and information, and lack of access are contributing factors to populations not seeking out the flu shot, according to the report’s authors.
A culturally relevant public health campaign, that provides flu shot information in multiple different languages and targets Canada’s diverse communities, as was done with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, is needed, the report states.
It’s unclear whether this year’s flu season might end up being longer than previous years, said Bogoch.
“We often say that flu is predictably unpredictable. This year it started earlier than other years,” he said. “It’s just hard to say, it’s not entirely clear how this influenza season will pan out, although it’s obvious that it’s much worse this year,” he added.
There’s a lot of complacency when it comes to the flu, as the public is tired from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Bogoch. Public health authorities need to build back trust, he said.
“Some people just might not care…and many people said ‘I never get a flu shot, why would I get one this year?’ Flu vaccines… are especially important this year, given that we have a greater community burden and given that our health- care system is extremely stretched,” he said.
Health-care systems across the country are reporting high emergency room wait times and packed children’s ICU units.
“It’s very challenging, obviously our doors are never closed…but if people can take very simple measures to avoid getting sick and avoid needing to seek health care, it’s a very wise decision,” he said.
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