Public health urging people to get flu shot

Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer is urging people to still get vaccinated for influenza despite a concern the latest H3N2 mutation is a mismatch against this year’s vaccine.

Dr. Brent Roussin said it’s difficult to predict early in the season whether a flu shot will be effective against strains such as subclade K, which is a variant of the H3N2 subtype of influenza A.

“It’s really important that the discussion that there could be a possible mismatch shouldn’t affect anybody’s ability or anyone’s decision to receive that vaccine, because it’s still our best protection,” Roussin told the Sun on Monday.

The province has seen a “dramatic increase” in test positivity for influenza in the last few weeks, which is largely attributed to the H3N2 subtype of the influenza A virus, he said.

Influenza A is notorious for evolving and is often more severe and spreads earlier in the season than influenza B, Roussin said.

Researchers and health-care professionals won’t know the effectiveness of this year’s flu vaccine until mid to late season when they can analyze the data, he said. The vaccine has protection against influenza A subtypes H3N2 and H1N1 and influenza B.

“Even when vaccines don’t have the great effectiveness for acquiring the illness, there’s usually really good effectiveness at preventing severe outcomes and so those are the things that we’re really concerned about,” Roussin said.

The World Health Organization develops the influenza vaccine for the northern hemisphere based on recommendations for its effectiveness against fighting the virus in the southern hemisphere, he said.

If a strain of influenza evolves or changes in between that period, there can be a mismatch.

“Every year, you know, around this time, we see significant impacts from respiratory virus season … impacting individuals, families, communities and the health-care system,” Roussin said.

There has been a total of 111 cases of influenza since late August in the Prairie Mountain Health region, with 41 new cases during the week of Nov. 23 to Nov. 29, according to the latest data on the provincial respiratory virus surveillance report.

There have been 556 total flu cases across Manitoba since late August, with 262 new cases during the week of Nov. 23.

Children five years old and under have an increased risk of getting influenza, but the province sees severe outcomes like ICU admissions or deaths in all age groups most years, Roussin said.

The report showed there were 1,623 respiratory related visits to an emergency department in Manitoba starting the week of Nov. 23, with 46 flu-related hospital admissions and three deaths.

The number of hospital admissions and deaths associated with influenza vary each year, Roussin said, emphasizing that while flu is a common seasonal illness, it should be taken seriously.

“It’s predictable that we see these severe outcomes and most times when we see these severe outcomes, those are in unvaccinated people,” he said.

The chief provincial public health officer recommends the COVID-19 and influenza vaccine to everyone older than six months, but especially to those who are high-risk, including people over 65 and those with underlying medical conditions.

“We know both these vaccines have good safety profiles and are effective at preventing the severe outcome,” Roussin said.

The spread of COVID-19 has been consistent throughout the year, he said.

There have been 167 COVID-19 cases in Prairie Mountain Health since late August out of 966 for the entire province. During the week of Nov. 23, there was 11 new cases of COVID-19 in Prairie Mountain with 43 cases across all health regions in Manitoba.

In that same week, nine Manitobans were admitted to a hospital for a COVID-19 related illness and seven people died in connection to COVID-19.

Roussin said there’s a lot of vaccine misinformation out there and sometimes it’s difficult for people to take it all in, but people can address any concerns they have with their health-care provider to ensure they are making an informed choice.

Since August, more than 205,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Manitoba, and more than 288,000 people have received a flu shot, the report said.

The province distributes vaccines to more than 1,000 different health-care clinics, pharmacies and hospitals each year, Roussin said.

“These respiratory viruses are spread through the air when we cough or sneeze, even from touching contaminated surfaces,” he said. To limit the spread of contagious viruses, people should wash their hands frequently, cough into their sleeve and stay home when sick.

Prairie Mountain Health had pop-up influenza and COVID-19 vaccine clinics at multiple locations throughout the Westman area, including the Brandon Friendship Centre and the Shoppers Mall in Brandon during November.

“Although PMH public health community clinics are winding down, we continue to encourage vaccination and for people to talk to their local public health nurse, pharmacist or primary care provider about options to protect themselves, their families and communities,” Jan Loe, the director of public health services for Prairie Mountain Health, said in an email statement.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com