Windsor-Essex County Health Unit suggests Windsor residents get flu vaccine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Naureen Ahmed

 

According to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, the flu vaccine is your best defense against seasonal flu.

Many people in Canada believe the flu season is only prevalent during three months of winter. They are also unaware of when to get the flu vaccines and if it is free for everyone.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, a public health advisor, said the Influenza virus can attack anyone at any time. Most flu cases generally occur each year in the late fall and winter months in Canada.

“People should try to get their flu vaccine as soon as possible early in the season to ensure that they develop immunity against the virus,” said Ahmed. “Let me be absolutely clear that it doesn’t mean if someone missed getting their flu vaccine in the beginning of the season then there is no benefit of getting the vaccine.”

“No cases have been reported to our health unit. A lot of these cases often go unreported and people do not seek medical care and sometime clinicians treat them without testing based on their clinical diagnosis,” said Ahmed. “We only get a report from the laboratory when a person is tested positive for Influenza.”

Residents at risk of developing influenza may include adults (including pregnant women) and children with chronic health conditions, people of any age who are residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities, people above 65 years of age, all children 6 to 59 months of age, healthy pregnant women and aboriginal people.

Ahmed disagrees with misconceptions found amongst individuals who are not in the favour of getting flu shots.

“The viral component used in the vaccine is either dead organism or inactivated organism that is unable to cause any illness when used in vaccine,” said Ahmed. “It takes two weeks to develop immunity. Someone can come in contact with influenza viruses few days after the vaccination because their body is not yet immune to influenza.”

The following are the influenza viral strains in this year’s publicly funded vaccines: A/California/7/2009(H1N1)-pdm09-like virus; A/Texas/50/2012 (H3N2)-like virus; B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus;

There are three types of vaccines available in Windsor-Essex County which are Vaxigrip®, AgriFlu®,Fluad® depending on patients circumstances.

At this point, there are 10 vaccines authorized for use in Canada. LAIV is superior to TIV in younger children (up to age 5 and 6).

Local pharmacist Huda Samaan advised people with serious allergies to avoid flu shots.

“People have allergies with eggs,” said Samaan. “If you have experienced a serious allergic reaction from a previous flu shot just don’t take it.”

Percentage of Individuals Who Obtained a Flu Immunization by Age and Sex, Age 12 and Above, 2007-2012
	MalePercent (95% CI)	FemalePercent (95% CI)	Both SexesPercent (95% CI)
AGE 12 TO 19 EVER LESS THAN 1 YEAR 1 YEAR – LESS 2 YEARS 2 YEARS OR MORE	66.1 (57.6-73.7)22.4 E (16.0-30.4)19.4 E (13.6-26.9)23.7 (17.5-31.4)	66.4 (58.7-73.3)29.2 (22.2-37.4)18.8 (13.6-25.5)17.3 (12.5-23.5)	66.2 (61.0-71.1)25.8 (21.2-30.9)19.1 (14.9-24.2)20.6 (16.4-25.4)
Age 20 to 44 Ever Less than 1 Year 1 Year – Less 2 Years 2 Years or More	59.1 (52.8-65.0)18.8 (14.3-24.3)10.6 (7.8-14.3)29.2 (24.2-34.9)	62.2 (56.5-67.5) 27.3 (22.6-32.5) 13.2 (9.9-17.2) 21.5 (16.8-27.2)	60.6 (56.3-64.7)23.0 (19.5-27.1)11.9 (9.8-14.4) 25.4 (21.6-29.6)
Age 45 to 64 Ever Less than 1 Year 1 Year – Less 2 Years 2 Years or More	55.6 (48.4-62.5)31.9 (26.5-37.7)9.3 E (6.5-13.1)14.4 E (10.3-19.8)	67.4 (59.4-74.5)48.5 (41.6-55.4)7.6 E (5.3-10.8)11.3 (8.5-14.9)	61.5 (56.8-66.0)40.2 (36.1-44.4)8.4 (6.6-10.8)12.9 (10.1-16.3)
Age 45 to 64 Ever Less than 1 Year 1 Year – Less 2 Years 2 Years or More	85.7 (79.9-89.9)78.3 (72.5-83.2)NRNR	85.3 (81.5-88.5)73.2 (68.6-77.4)5.2 E (3.5-7.7)6.9 E (4.9-9.8)	85.5 (82.3-88.2)75.4 (72.1-78.5)4.5 E (3.1-6.4)5.5 E (3.9-7.8)
All Ages (12+) Ever Less than 1 Year 1 Year – Less 2 Years 2 Years or More	62.3 (58.4-66.1)31.4 (28.3-34.7)10.4 (8.6-12.4)20.3 (17.5-23.5)	68.2 (64.7-71.5)41.9 (38.1-45.8)10.7 (9.1-12.7)15.4 (13.2-17.8)	65.3 (62.8-67.7)36.7 (34.1-39.4)10.6 (9.3-11.9)17.8 (16.0-19.8)

Ishret Balawi, who runs her own salon, refused to get the flu shots for the fear of getting sick.

“I don’t want to get sick,” said Balawi. “I have a very busy schedule day and night, if I get sick who is going to look after my clients?”

Vaccination is the best option to protect against influenza. You can protect yourself by using proper hand hygiene, covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing with your sleeves, staying home when sick. Anyone living, studying, or working in Ontario is eligible to receive free flu vaccines.