Flu shot popularity continues to rise even as Alberta remains at zero cases
By Medicine Hat News on January 26, 2021.
Albertans continue to get the influenza vaccine for a total of 1,518,893 people, according to the latest report from Alberta Health Services. The number of people getting the flu vaccine has increased every year. Towards the end of January 2016 it was 1,052,762 across Alberta and in 2019 there were 1,228,110 and last year 1,317,503. This means that in this current flu season more than 200,000 additional people decided to be vaccinated compared to last year. In the south zone only, which includes Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, 95,340 people have been vaccinated this season compared to last year when the number was 94,681. Alberta continues to have no cases of influenza. In other years by the end of January the numbers are typically high. In 2018 across the whole province there were 6,320 lab confirmed cases of influenza A and B and 46 deaths by the last week of January. Last year there were 3,665 lab confirmed cases of influenza A and B and 12 deaths. Alberta does not reveal the number of influenza lab tests administered but FluWatch, a national report, indicates there have been “elevated levels of testing” across the country. The influenza season in Canada usually starts in mid November. Some years it has been as early as mid-October and as late as early January. So far the number of cases nationwide is too low to declare an influenza season underway, states FluWatch. An online report from the World Health Organization states that of the low number of influenza cases detected in laboratory testing, the majority are influenza A (H3N2). A spokesperson for Alberta Health says that during the “2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic, there were other strains of influenza circulating but at a very low amount.” 9-8
