As flu season draws near, will vaccine be ready?

With flu season almost here, there is confusion about whether flu vaccines will be delayed in Ontario this year — with mixed messages coming from the Ontario and federal governments.

The heads of two Ontario public health units said they have been told by the province that flu vaccine for the general public will not be available until early November — later than recommended by many health officials in what could be a severe flu season. In Ottawa, public vaccination clinics are being scheduled in November, instead of starting in October as usual.

But Health Canada said it expects no delay in vaccine delivery, despite a month-long delay by the World Health Organization in making its annual recommendations on the content of that vaccine for the northern hemisphere.

And in a statement Friday, a spokesman for Ontario’s health minister said the province is currently “engaging with public health units about the coming flu season, but it is too early to comment on those plans.”

Medical officers of health have been commenting on plans for the coming flu season, though, which usually begins in coming weeks.

Medical officers of health in both Ottawa and Eastern Ontario said they have been notified by the Ministry of Health that flu vaccine for the general public will not be available until early November this year, because of delays in recommendations about and production of the vaccine, although vaccines for high-risk groups will be available in October. Many health officials, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, recommend people get vaccinated by the end of October.

In a report to be delivered to Ottawa’s board of health on Monday, chief medical officer Dr. Vera Etches noted that influenza season usually begins in earnest in mid-November, about a month after the vaccine normally becomes available.

“However, with the potential of a vaccine distribution delay from the province, it is possible that the 2019-2020 influenza season may arrive prior to the vaccine’s availability,” said Etches.

It usually takes a week or two for vaccines to begin working fully.

Ottawa Public Health will take steps to limit the spread of the flu if that is the case, the report says.

Those concerns come following an unusually harsh flu season in Australia — which is often a predictor of the type and severity of flu in the Northern Hemisphere. This year’s flu season in Australia was also notable because it began so early — at least a month ahead of usual flu seasons.

Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, chief medical officer of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, said his health unit has also been told by the province not to expect to hold flu vaccine clinics for the general public until some time in November.

But in a statement, a spokesperson for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said it does not anticipate any delays in distributing flu vaccine this year.

“We do not anticipate any significant delays in provincial and territorial public vaccination programs. Most of the vaccine supply will be available on schedule, with shipments beginning mid-September, and continuing until the end of October,” said the Health Canada statement.