After several school re-entries to be on guard because of the COVID-19, it should not be forgotten that there are also other respiratory viruses which circulate as the cold temperatures settle and that the students find themselves close to each other in class. Vaccination is an effective way to protect yourself from influenza, but vaccination rates are down in Canada.
During the 2024-2025 influenza season, a third of adults received a flu vaccine, which is below the previous seasons. We observe the same trend in children, while 31 % of young people aged 6 months to 17 years old received an antigripping vaccine for the 2023-2024 season against 34 % the previous season.
The Dr Jesse Papenburg, pediatrician, infectiologist and microbiologist at the Montreal Hospital for children at the McGill University Health Center, confirms that certain studies show that there is a drop in vaccination for both adults and in young children.
“We know that for the various respiratory viruses, including the flu and also the syncytial respiratory virus which is an important cause of hospitalization in toddlers at the bottom of 1 year-these viruses circulate more during the winter in our climate, among others because of environmental factors,” explains the Dr Papenburg. We talk about humidity, temperature, quantity of ultraviolet rays, so the amount of light we have with the sun. These things change with the seasons and promote traffic during the winter of these respiratory viruses. »»
Dr Papenburg stresses that human behavior also has something to do with it. “Human contacts take place much more inside in enclosed places, such as daycares, schools, at the office for adults, at home, inside. This is also why we ask families when they have a child who makes a fever and coughs, to keep him at home so that he does not propagate the chain of transmission to school or to daycare, “recalls the pediatrician.
Over 25,500 hospitalizations last year
The influenza vaccination campaign does not start from the start of the school year, but it soon was launched so that as many people as possible are protected before the start of winter. General rule, the peak of the flu season takes place between November and March. Some years may experience a late or hasty peak, as in 2022-2023, where there had been a very large number of transmissions from the beginning of November.
Most Canadian provinces will start their influenza vaccination campaign around October. Last year, Quebec launched its own in mid-October.
Vaccination against flu is free in Canada for anyone aged 6 months and more.
People with chronic diseases, underlying, heart, respiratory, renal diseases, etc. are more at risk of complications related to influenza. Age ends, ie toddlers 5 and under and elders aged 65 and over, are also more likely to develop complications that can lead to hospitalization or even death.
Last year, Health Canada identified more than 25,500 hospitalizations and 689 deaths associated with the flu. In children only, more than 1,100 pediatric hospitalizations associated with flu have been reported. “This figure is an underestimation of the total number of hospitalizations in pediatrics, nuances the Dr Papenburg, because there are many children who are hospitalized in community hospitals. »»
“It is sure that the fewer people who get vaccinated, indeed, the more there may be hospitalizations due to flu because we know that the vaccine is an effective way to prevent hospitalizations,” said the pediatrician. He indicates that an individual who is vaccinated will reduce about half his risk of consulting a doctor, going to the emergency room or being hospitalized.
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