Mothers urge people to get their flu shots
With another flu season about to ramp up, the Saskatchewan Health Authority is kicking off its annual drive to encourage people to get vaccinated.
At a flu shot drive in Prince Albert this week, Dr. Julie Kryzanowski, a senior medical health officer with the SHA, said “we can’t predict what the future will hold, or what flu season will look like.”
No matter what the season holds, an influenza vaccine remains one of the most effective ways for people to protect themselves and their loved ones, she said.
About 30 per cent of Saskatchewan people got vaccinated last year. Groups at the highest risk from the flu, mainly young children, seniors and their caregivers, were among the most likely to get a shot.
Kryzanowski stressed that the vaccine is recommended for everyone, including otherwise healthy adults.
The vaccine is made from inactive virus particles, so getting the needle might leave behind a little soreness, but it won’t cause the flu, Kryzanowski said.
Randeen Tomiak and her daughter Blake, two, and 10-week-old son Lucas were among the first in line to get shots this year after a miserable time last year when Blake contracted the H1N1 influenza strain.
“We were basically sick the entire year after we had H1N1 in our house,” Tomiak said
“And it’s just not really something we want to go through again this year.”
She’d just learned she was pregnant with Lucas when Blake got sick, leading to a brutal few weeks when Blake was in and out of Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital. On top of the morning sickness from her pregnancy, Tomiak also contracted H1N1 herself, as did her husband.
While Blake eventually got over the virus, Tomiak said the illness seemed to leave her daughter open to catching any other bug that was going around throughout the rest of the year.
She said a busy lifestyle with both Blake and her eldest child Cadence to look after caused them to miss getting their shots last year.
This year she’ll make time for it and encourages others to do the same.
“I don’t think I’ll ever miss the flu shot again,” she said.
Speaking from her home in Warman, Brittany Caffet, a host on Saskatoon’s C95 radio station and producer of 650 CKOM’S The Brent Loucks Show, said people’s choice to get a flu shot can also protect vulnerable people like her newborn son Henry by preventing the spread of the flu.
Henry was diagnosed with
Down’s syndrome shortly after he was born in September. He also has a congenital heart defect that will require open heart surgery by the time he’s six months old. The heart condition is common in babies born with Down’s.
“My husband Tyler and I aren’t that scared by the Down’s syndrome diagnosis. It’s just part of who Henry is. But the heart stuff is really what’s scary,” she said.
Henry’s doctors want to hold off on the surgery until as close to the six month mark as they can, Caffet said. But the surgery would need to be done immediately should his heart function change before then. The potential for him to catch the flu presents a nightmare scenario.
“If Henry catches the flu and something changes with the function of his heart, we’ll just have to sit back and let fate take control because they will not be able to operate while he’s sick — and that’s terrifying,” she said.
She hopes people will think of newborns, seniors and others with weaker immune systems who benefit when there is less flu risk in the community, she added.
“Nobody really likes to get poked in the arm with a needle, but it’s so important.”