Flu vaccination rate concerning amid ‘tripledemic’ affecting the province: Toronto doctor

Doctors and pharmacies are concerned with the flu vaccination rate this year as we head into the holiday season already battling the “tripledemic” of Influenza, COVID-19, and RSV.

Health experts are strongly recommending all residents get the flu shot, but one Toronto doctor says there are too many barriers preventing people from rolling up their sleeves.

“After COVID it’s the most common vaccine preventable cause of death in our country,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the National Institute.

Currently, the immunization rate for COVID-19 is 83 per cent, but on average each year, the vaccination rate for Influenza is only 40 per cent.

On average 3,500 people die from flu every year in Canada. With many more ending up in hospital and what could be one of the worst seasons in recent memory, Dr. Sinha said significantly upping historically low vaccination rates is needed to save lives.

“There is this goal we have set of trying to get at least 80 percent vaccinated and we’ve never cracked 70 percent mark amongst older adults and people in general,” said Dr. Sinha.

Infections from Influenza and RSV have already led to surge in pediatric hospital visits and pediatric ICUs are operating over capacity across Ontario to deal with the influx.

Ontario’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said in a press conference that half of the children in ICUs are testing positive for Influenza while the other half are testing positive for RSV.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) said it is seeing a dramatic increase in flu activity compared to previous years. For the week of Nov. 6 to Nov. 12, TPH reported 484 confirmed flu cases compared to an average of nine confirmed flu cases for the same week in each of the last five pre-COVID years (2014-2019).

From their six flu vaccine clinics, TPH administered just over 20,000 vaccines between Nov. 1 and Nov. 17. Of those, 767 doses have been administered to children aged five years and below while 4, 696 have been administered to seniors of 65 years and above.

Dr. Sinha said she believes the flu shot vaccination rate is low because most people just don’t get around to it. “[They say,] ‘I didn’t think the flu was that serious that I need the vaccines, I’m pretty healthy why would it be helpful for me.’ I think people are underestimating their risk … but at the same time I don’t think we are actually making it as convenient for people to get vaccinated.”

For those who do not have access to primary care, pharmacies are the place to go for a flu shot. Most are appointment-only, others do walk-ins, and while the province said pharmacies can vaccinate children two years and up, some do not have the proper doses for kids younger than 5.

“We know that when you make it easier so people don’t have to make multiple trips to multiple different providers, it’s more likely they will just get vaccinated.”

“One thing that really bothers me a lot is that we are not seeing every vaccine clinic offering the ability to co-administering vaccines, so basically saying, ‘If you are coming for your COVID, by the way we can also give you flu, pneumonia, and shingles vaccine at the same time’,” explained Dr. Sinha.

Another issue is the high-dose vaccine for seniors, one of the most at-risk populations, as many pharmacies have run out of supply and according to pharmacist Kristen Watt, Ontario is out of stock.

“We’ve ordered them and used them all, I haven’t had any in my pharmacy for a couple of weeks now.” Watt said high-dose vaccines have only been around for a few years and by now, they should be offered to every senior.

“The province knows exactly how many doses are administered to people over 65 in the province, there is no reason we cannot order properly,” Watt added.

With files from Meredith Bond