Early flu season putting younger children at risk, Dr. Henry says

The B.C. government is pushing parents to make sure their kids are protected with flu shots by having a vaccine blitz this coming weekend.

B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says this year’s flu season has come early and is affecting young kids in particular.

“The highest risk age group for children are children six months to five years of age that are eligible for vaccination. And of course, they’re not in schools,” she told the media Monday.

Henry says this year’s strain, the H3N2, causes more severe illness and secondary bacterial infections like meningitis that are particularly dangerous. The province’s top doctor says B.C.’s eight-week flu season peaks in January, but notes it’s happening right now.

“We’re still early on in this trajectory of influenza. We’re starting to see the impact of a large number of children who haven’t been exposed to influenza for a few years, and a small proportion of them are getting severely ill,” she said.

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So far, the province says only about 20 per cent of kids 11 and under have had flu shots, with that rate dropping to 15 per cent for teenagers.

“It’s very difficult to compare. We hadn’t been recording influenza vaccinations in the same way prior to having the system that we have now in place,” Henry said.

In an effort to boost those numbers, parents of young kids will be getting messages from the province urging them to register their children with B.C.’s vaccination program.

B.C., along with many other parts of the country, is dealing with a surge in young hospital patients due to a spike in respiratory illnesses. It has prompted changes to the triaging process at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Encouragement not enough, critics say

In response to Henry’s announcement Monday, critics are saying the vaccine blitz won’t go far enough to keep hospital capacity down.

Victoria-based family physician, Dr. Jennifer Lush says more swift action needs to be taken.

“I think we have shown that if encouragement was going to accomplish what it needs to, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are now. The time has come for stronger recommendations because our kids are paying too high a price right now,” she said.

Lush suggests bringing back some COVID-19 requirements that were seen earlier in the pandemic.

“To require people to wear masks in schools or in crowded public places right now is really not a very big ask. The most vulnerable amongst are suffering. We have children dying because of complications of influenza,” she said.

In a series of tweets, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau also said that the B.C. government’s actions don’t go far enough to prevent the spread of illness.

“Vaccines are one tool, but given the conditions we are seeing right now, more needs to be done to prevent illness, especially in children,” she wrote.

Lush and Furstenau both agree stronger mandates are needed, also calling for ventilation to be a priority in school settings.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he is “extremely worried” about the rise in respiratory illnesses among children, urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza.

With files from Michael Williams