A local pharmacist hopes to see more people get their flu shots amid a late-season surge in influenza cases.
While 40 per cent of Canadians typically get their flu shots each year, only 32 per cent did last winter, said Mitchell Zorzit, a pharmacist at Shoppers Drug Mart on Great Northern Road.
This year, the typical peak season through the early months of winter is stretching into March.
“It’s surging right now, and it's lasting longer than we normally do,” Zorzit said.
“It makes it really important now, more than ever, to still get your flu shot even though it is still late in the season.”
According to a 2018 study, vaccinated patients were 59 per cent less likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit than non-vaccinated patients, Zorzit said, underscoring the importance of getting the shot.
“The goal of getting vaccinated is to protect our most vulnerable. The most vulnerable are our people with a lot of comorbidities – 65 and older population, pregnancy and children under the age of five – so we get vaccinated to basically protect them,” he said.
Zorzit said people can book flu vaccines at shoppersdrugmart.ca/flu.
“It's open to anybody that wants it,” he said.
“It does usually take two weeks to get to its maximal efficacy, though you start to build your immune response immediately, so even someone getting a partial response is better than no response at all.”