So far so good: not much sign of it yet.
The peak timing for influenza outbreaks is difficult to pin down, but it is certainly not too late to be vaccinated. In fact some years, we did not see the flu peak until spring.
While flu vaccine efficacy may vary form 30 to 90 percent, depending on how well the strains in the vaccine and those circulating in the community match, as well as other factors such as one’s age and immune-system strength, the protection offered is well worth the very limited risk. Health Canada estimates that there are 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths caused by influenza every year.
As a bonus, when you are vaccinated, you are contributing to the immunity of the “herd,” meaning that the more members vaccinated the less the disease spreads and the greater the protection afforded to the younger and older members of the population. In the last decade or so, about one-third of Canadians have been getting flu shots.
Immunization has been one of the most effective weapons against many maladies. Vaccination contributed largely to the eradication in 1977 of small pox, one of the world’s most feared diseases. Low vaccination rates, however, lead to the resurgence of disease as witnessed or example by the largest outbreak of measles in thirty years in the Fraser Valley in the spring of 2014. In the same year, polio re-surfaced in ten countries around the globe, prompting the World Health Organization to take emergency measures to contain the virus.
Flu shots are now widely available in physician’s offices and pharmacies across the province. As it happens, the four pharmacists at Cates Pharmacy are certified to give injections to adults as well as children six and older.
