Cold and flu season is back, and this year, health experts say it could hit harder than usual. Early data from countries like Australia, where flu season starts earlier, show higher infection rates and more severe cases than in recent years. That’s often a sign of what’s to come for Canada.
“Are we going to have a tough flu season? Probably,” says Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch. “Australia had two tough ones in a row, including the most recent one. We’re probably in for a tough one. We’re looking at some other countries in the northern hemisphere who are seeing a lot of H3N2.”
The latest test results from Health Canada are three per cent shy of what’s considered a flu epidemic.
This year’s flu shot is designed to protect against strains like H1N1 and H3N2. Both are subtypes of Influenza A.
“In a typical influenza season, one of those is more dominant, and it’s not quite clear if H3N2 will be more dominant than H1N1, but if it is, usually H3N2 seasons are more severe than H1N1 seasons.”
However, at this point, experts say it’s hard to know how well the vaccines that are being administered will match the current strains.
“The reality is we try to predict what the circulating strains will be and try to mimic that in the vaccines as they come out, but that will always be subject to change,” explains Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Dale Kalina Samji. “The important thing is that regardless of how well the vaccine does match, getting the vaccine will help anyway because there will always be some degree of match.”
Health officials say now is the best time to get vaccinated to protect both individuals and the health-care system from being overloaded.
“It takes time for the actual immunity to ramp up after you’ve taken the vaccine, and we usually see high flu cases occurring around Christmas time, that’s usually when it hits the hardest. And as a consequence, hospitalizations tend to boost or peak in February,” said Rylander Pharmasave owner Kyro Maseh.
“A lot of people have yet to be vaccinated. There’s a great deal of vaccination fatigue, and as a consequence, there’s waning immunity against the flu. That’s essentially what’s contributing a great deal to the severity of flu this season.”
Those most at risk include young children, seniors, pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals.
“I think the most important thing to remember about respiratory virus season is that we have multiple respiratory viruses, several of which are preventable with vaccines,” said Samji. “So RSV, COVID, and influenza are all respiratory viruses that you can get vaccines for.”
Anyone aged six months or older is eligible for the vaccine. Health officials are also reminding Canadians of several other simple precautions, such as washing hands, staying home when sick and wearing a mask in crowded spaces.
