Flu season is here, and getting vaccinated is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and others. The more of us who get the needle or the nasal spray, the better we can control the spread and the severity of the virus.
Every year, the public-health experts who brew up the mixture of three or four viruses try to get the right vaccine to match what’s going around. This year, they are more confident that they got it correct.
That doesn’t mean it will work for everyone, but your chances of escaping the virus or at least getting a milder bout of illness are better with the vaccine than without it.
The flu causes more deaths than all other vaccine-preventable diseases combined, said provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall. “The flu can be a serious disease and is highly contagious.” The flu kills about 3,500 people each year in Canada.
The main virus of concern this year is H3N2, which is a greater danger to seniors than some other strains. It’s a tougher bug than the H1N1 that dominated last year.
The flu season got an early start this year. It usually kicks off in November and lasts until April, but the Health Ministry said about six seniors fell ill in residential care homes before November rolled around.
And workplaces have been losing employees to illness for weeks, although Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical officer of Island Health, said there have been no lab-confirmed reports of the flu yet on Vancouver Island.
The flu is a particular hazard for the very young, the elderly, those with heart or lung diseases, and people with compromised immune systems, such as those in hospital and those undergoing cancer treatment. It can be contagious 24 hours before symptoms are apparent.
To help control the spread of the disease, the province requires health workers to be immunized for free by Dec. 1 or wear a mask in patient-care areas.
For the rest of us, it’s getting easier every year to get vaccinated. If your employer doesn’t offer a vaccination program, there are lots of other places to get it, and you no longer have to make an appointment with your doctor.
According to the B.C. Pharmacy Association, 95 per cent of pharmacies in B.C. have pharmacists who are authorized to give immunizations.
It will cost you $20 to $30 for a flu shot, but there is no charge for people who are at risk from complications, or for close contacts of those people.
A newer option than the traditional shot in the arm is a nasal-spray flu vaccine. It’s available for free at public-health clinics and physicians’ offices for children from two to 17 years of age who are at risk of serious illness from influenza or who live with someone who is at risk.
Once you get the vaccine, it takes about two weeks after the shot for the body to develop the antibodies that will ward off the virus.
The flu is annual misery, and it’s not going away, but there are things all of us can do to help control its spread. Wash your hands regularly, cough or sneeze into your sleeve, stay home when you are sick — and get vaccinated.
As with any vaccine, the more people who get the shot, the more effective it is for all of us.
