Flu shot uptake one of lowest in Canada
Only 37% of people older than 12
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/07/2010 (5803 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MANITOBA had one of the lowest H1N1 vaccination rates in the country, according to new data that show only 37 per cent of Manitobans over age 12 received the flu shot last fall.
Statistics Canada released data from the 2010 Canadian Community Health survey on Monday that revealed Manitoba fell below Canada’s national H1N1 vaccination rate and had lower uptake than every province except Ontario and B.C. Manitoba and Alberta both vaccinated 37 per cent of the population against H1N1– the third-lowest vaccine uptake in Canada.
The survey found 41 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and older got the H1N1 shot. The actual national figure is likely higher, because the report did not include people living in the northern territories — where, earlier this year, uptake was estimated to be greater than 60 per cent in Nunavut and Northwest Territories and about 53 per cent in Yukon.
Dr. Elise Weiss, Manitoba Health spokeswoman for H1N1, said the province’s rates may appear lower because the data don’t include the number of young children who received the shot — one of the priority groups Manitoba targeted when it rolled out flu clinics.
Weiss said they also don’t reflect some of the success Manitoba had vaccinating First Nations against H1N1. She said 90 per cent of residents living in some northern First Nations communities got the H1N1 shot, and the province was able to vaccinate more than 450,000 people against influenza.
“I think that’s a success,” Weiss said.
She said Manitoba’s influenza strategy focused on vaccinating those at risk of severe illness first, which meant flu shots weren’t offered to the general public when they were rolled out last October. Weiss said Manitoba received a limited supply of the vaccine when immunization clinics first opened and public demand was at its peak.
Later, when Manitoba had a larger vaccine supply, Weiss said the public perception of the threat had waned.
“There was a lot of demand for the vaccine at a time when the supply was short,” she said.
“(Later) there were fewer cases, the perception was that the second wave was dying down and risk was lower than it had been in early October.”
Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest vaccination rate at 69 per cent, while B.C. vaccinated 36 per cent and Ontario vaccinated 32 per cent of its population.
— with files from The Canadian Press
jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca