Soon, the latest influenza vaccine will be widely available in the Simcoe-Muskoka region and the local medical officer of health expects many people to opt-in for the optional shot.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has confirmed the flu shot is currently available for individuals who are at high-risk. Seniors, children under five, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions, nursing home residents, and Indigenous people may get the flu shot through their health-care providers.
By the end of October, or possibly early November the vaccine will be widely available to everyone else in Simcoe County and Muskoka District at pharmacies and from health-care providers.
“I anticipate a larger uptake of the flu vaccine and that’s a very good thing,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit during a weekly media briefing. “People want to avoid getting influenza always.”
He noted there is also the possibility of contracting both COVID-19 and influenza.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit conducts influenza surveillance from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 each year. From 2014 to 2019, the health unit tracked between 600 and 700 cases of influenza A and B, with the exception of 2017/2018 when there were more than 900 cases of confirmed influenza A or B in the region.
The region’s influenza incidence rate typically tracks higher than the provincial rate with about 120 cases per 100,000 people between 2014 and 2019 (in 2017/2018 it was 160 cases per 100,000).
For information from Public Health Ontario on the 2020/2021 influenza vaccine, visit their website here.
