Nearly 1.3 million Albertans already vaccinated for influenza

The fourth weekly influenza report indicates 1,298,466 people in Alberta have now received the flu vaccine this season.

This number is more typical for much later in the season — around January.

In the south zone, which includes Medicine Hat, 83,138 people have been immunized, with 559,822 in Calgary, 118,465 in the central zone, 445,246 in Edmonton and 91,681 in the north zone. Another 114 have not yet been attributed to a particular zone.

AHS says there are still no cases of influenza in Alberta but many people have been tested for the virus.

Alberta Precision Laboratory has tested more than 47,000 respiratory swabs since Aug. 23. These do not include COVID-19 tests.

Unlike COVID-19 AHS does not generally reveal the number of flu lab tests done.

By Nov. 2, a year ago, there had been 325 cases of influenza lab identified in Alberta and 49 of them were in the south zone. There were 66 people in Alberta hospitals with flu, of which 38 were in the south zone. Across Canada there had been 711 cases.

Some countries are doing flu tests when a COVID-19 test is being done because the symptoms, triggering the request for a test, can be similar. In Alberta, people are either tested for COVID or influenza and either test is only done with their consent.

AHS believes the low cases of flu this season is due to the extra measures people have adopted due to the COVID pandemic.

Countries in the Southern Hemisphere have just finished their winter season and report that the number of flu cases were very low as well.

Many pharmacies and doctors offices are providing influenza immunization shots but families with children less than five years old can make an appointment (online, see link below) with AHS.

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/influenza/https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/influenza/influenza.aspx