Alberta Health Services (AHS) continues to encourage residents to get immunized to prevent the contraction and spread of the influenza virus, which claimed the lives of 17 Albertans in 2018.
According to AHS’ weekly influenza report for Jan. 3 one person in the North zone, which stretches all the way from Westlock to the Northwest Territories border, has died due to the flu, while across Alberta 16 others have died — seven in the Calgary zone, five in the Central zone and four in the Edmonton zone.
In the North Zone, 88,457 people have received their flu shots, but still 1,022 cases of lab confirmed influenza have been documented. All but one was this year’s influenza ‘A’ strain, also known as H1N1, the same strain that caused a public scare in 2009, though now there is some immunity towards it.
A total of 1,185,890 flu shots have been administered across the province thus far.
AHS North Zone medical officer of health Dr. Kathryn Koliaska noted the number of vaccines administered year over year stays relatively static. As a result, the concept of herd immunity against influenza is a long way off.
“Flu is tricky,” she said. “When you talk about the amount of people getting immunized in the province, we’re at about a third of that, not near enough to stop the spread person to person ... To get that herd immunity, you need probably three times as many people as we currently have,” said Dr. Koliaska.
“There has been a lot of effort to make sure people have the opportunity, but there’s a lot of complex decision making that goes on.”
Influenza immunizations are available, free of charge, to all Albertans six months of age and older, through AHS clinics, pharmacies and physicians.
Dr. Koliaska encourages everyone to get their flu shot. The immunization is one of several recommended steps to avoid getting the flu in the first place, or spreading it. AHS also reminds people to cover their cough, clean their hands and to stay home when they are sick.
“We do know that flu can occasionally affect and kill healthy people as well as people that are at risk. Chances are that if you have risk factors such as chronic diseases or other health issues, flu could hit you harder, but the flu doesn’t pick and choose,” she said.
Those with health problems like heart and lung conditions, diabetes, weak immune system, or obesity are at the highest risk People who live in care facilities, are older than 65 but younger than five, are pregnant or indigenous are also at high
“Vaccine hesitancy” is one of the issues health officials are running up against as people weigh the pros and cons of the vaccine against the actual disease, said Dr. Koliaska. They are also competing against anti-vaccine rhetoric from media personalities.
“There is some overall confusion or difficulty in finding a source of truth for trustworthy information on vaccines. Some people are making a very good living off of it. There’s lots of different perspectives and lots of different angles,” said Dr. Koliaska.
During the 2017-18 flu season, 94 people died across the province, which was up considerably from just 64 in 2016-17 and 62 in 2015-16.
