Doctor gives flu campaign shot in arm
Researcher calls for more promotion in bid to get vaccination numbers up
TORONTO — Provinces and territories have launched or are gearing up for the annual effort to persuade Canadians to vaccinate themselves and their children against influenza.
Though many jurisdictions now give the vaccine free to all, it’s believed fewer than one third of Canadians take flu vaccine and in some places the number may be more like onein-four or one-in-five.
“That’s an ongoing challenge,” admits Jeff Kwong, a Toronto doctor who has done a lot of research on flu vaccines at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
“I think if governments want to keep higher uptake, they really need to invest in promotion.”
There still are some provinces — British Columbia and Prince Edward Island for instance — that pay for vaccines only for people deemed to be at high risk from the complications of flu.
High-risk people typically include seniors, children between the ages of six months (the earliest point at which flu vaccine is given) and five years, and pregnant women.
People who care for these highrisk individuals and could transmit flu to them are also covered, though the criteria differs from province to province.
Dr. Barbara Raymond, director of pandemic preparedness at the Public Health Agency of Canada, says this year provinces and territories have jointly purchased about 10 million doses of vaccine from four suppliers: GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis and AstraZeneca. The first three make injectable vaccine while the latter sells Flumist, an aerosol that is sprayed into nostrils. It is licensed for use in children and adults between the ages of two and 59. The vaccine available in a particular province or territory depends on what that jurisdiction ordered.
So while some are offering Flumist for children, or are using Fluad, an extra-strength vaccine for seniors made by Novartis, others may not.
But even if a particular type of vaccine isn’t covered by the provincial or territorial campaign, it’s possible a person could get that product from a physician, if they are willing to pay out of pocket. Where a decade ago there were only two licensed suppliers of flu vaccine in Canada, now there are eight, says Raymond.
More are on the way, including vaccines that protect against four strains of flu — two influenza As and two influenza Bs. All vaccines used this season in Canada will be trivalent, protecting against two As and a single strain of B.
Divvying up the market works as a hedge in case any single manufacturer has a product-line failure, as has happened in the past. And keeping more companies in the business of making flu vaccine is also part of efforts by a variety of governments to have maximum production capacity available for when rare flu pandemics occur.