REGINA – With the fall respiratory virus season now under way, immunization clinics are now accepting bookings for people to get their influenza and COVID-19 shots.
The province has launched their campaign to let Saskatchewan residents know that anyone aged six months and older can now receive their Influenza and their COVID-19 vaccinations at public health clinics across the province.
Importantly, in Saskatchewan both the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are still available to those individuals free of charge — something some other jurisdictions have gotten away from doing.
The province's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab, and health officials representing a number of organizations including Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Indigenous Services Canada and Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority were on hand to launch the fall immunization campaign at a community clinic in east Regina on Tuesday.
They were also there to receive their vaccinations, with Dr. Shahab receiving both the COVID-19 and the influenza shots.
At a news conference with reporters, Dr. Shahab said immunizations are a “safe and effective way to help people stay healthy and to prevent respiratory illness. And getting both these vaccines is especially important for people most at risk of serious illness from these respiratory illnesses.”
Dr. Shahab said it is especially important for people at highest risk, including adults 65 years and older. He said older adults are a “vulnerable population for contracting respiratory illness”, and that those 65 and older “have the highest rates of hospitalization from respiratory illness complications compared to the general adult population.”
He said to help create a stronger immune response, enhanced influenza vaccine is available for all residents 65 years of age and older. Others at increased risk are residents of personal care and long-term care facilities, and those residents will be getting the vaccines in the coming weeks. He said health care workers in those facilities will benefit from the vaccines as well as those with underlying medical conditions and those who are pregnant.
Starting today, Oct. 14, Saskatchewan residents can get vaccines from participating Saskatchewan Health Authority clinics, participating pharmacies, and from some physician and nurse practitioner offices. Phone and online bookings are available at forflu.ca or calling 1-833-727-5829, and a of available walk-in clinics can be found at forflu.ca.
Participating Saskatchewan pharmacies will have influenza and COVID-19 vaccines available, but these are for children five years and older and for all adults. Children between ages of six months to five years can only be immunized at a SHA public health clinic, public health office or by a physician or nurse practitioner.
With the increase in respiratory viruses activity, the province’s community respiratory illness surveillance program (CRISP) report will now be issued on a biweekly basis. The last report was issued last Friday, and Dr. Shahab said while influenza activity is still low, they are seeing more COVID-19 showing hp.
Dr. Shahab said COVID activity had “started picking up a bit over August and September. And it did result in some hospitalizations, unfortunately. And again, that's the reason why COVID(-19) is already circulating at moderate levels. And as we have received the vaccines, we shouldn't wait too long to get vaccinated.”
As for what we can expect for this season, Dr. Shahab said that during the first two years of COVID-19, “we hardly saw any influenza. All the other things we were doing, washing hands, staying home when we're sick, staying away from each other.”
“Obviously, over the last two to three years, influenza has come back. And every year is different. Last year, we saw an early COVID season in November and a later influenza season that went on as far as May. But that doesn't mean that we'll see the same cycle this year. It can be very different. And yes, the southern hemisphere does show us that it was a fairly typical influenza season in the southern hemisphere. They had their winter, during our summer — they had both COVID(-19) and influenza.”
He added that “sometimes any respiratory virus, and not influenza or COVID or RSV, any respiratory virus, if you're already frail, have chronic lung disease or heart disease — any respiratory virus can tip the balance and cause more serious illness or can cause decomposition of our underlying health condition.”
“And that's why year round, if you have underlying risk factors, if you're immunosuppressed, if you're undergoing cancer treatment, it's still a good idea to practice all the other things we do. You know, wash your hands, wear a mask if you're in a public space to protect yourself from respiratory illnesses, even those illnesses for which there isn't a vaccine, and encourage people to not visit you if they're unwell.”
Dr. Ibrahim Khan, the Medical Health Officer for Indigenous Services Canada, said influenza “can be very infectious. It's spread very quickly among people, before you know it.”
There is also a focus on ensuring vaccines are available to Indigenous people. Dr. Khan said vaccine access and availability is “like anybody else in Saskatchewan,” with clinics starting in communities, and transportation and flexible booking available.
“For indigenous populations living with chronic conditions and living in overcrowded housing, it's really important that we protect, we encourage everybody to come and get their flu vaccine,” said Khan. “The rate of complication is high due to flu, and that can be hospitalization. So we really encourage everybody to come forward and get their vaccine. Flu shots are safe, it's available, and it protects lives.”
Dr. Tania Diener, Medical health officer with SHA, said immunization usually continues until the end of March, but it depends on the season.
“We can have an early start, late start,” said Diener. If at the end of March, it's seen that there's still active influenza, the chief medical health officer can extend that period of time. But that's usually up to the end of March for immunized.”
As of today, there have been 11,515 total bookings to get vaccinated, and that is a combination of people calling in or booking online.
As for questions people might have about whether they are getting a Pfizer or a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the SHA says it is getting away from advertising which one is available on what particular day. Dr. Shahab said it “really doesn't matter which vaccine you receive.”
“Having said that, the Pfizer vaccine is mostly available for 12 and older, and it's mostly in public health clinics. The Moderna vaccine is available for six months and older. It's available at pharmacies and public health clinics, so there's a bit of a difference there. But really, as you present you'll get either of the two vaccines that's appropriate for you based on your age.”
