Via The Globe and Mail, André Picard writes: The battle against the flu requires our best shot, not muddled messaging. Excerpt:
Flu season is just around the corner and that means it’s time for everyone to get a flu shot. That’s a simple, easy-to-understand message. Yet, public-health officials in Canada seem to struggle with saying so in a straightforward manner.
Instead, we get muddled messaging, irrational funding policies and, unsurprisingly, poor uptake.
About 9.9 million Canadians got a flu shot last year – fewer than half of adults and a quarter of children. Officially, Canada’s stated goal is to vaccinate 80 per cent of two target populations against the flu – people over the age of 65, and everyone with chronic health conditions.
We do relatively well with seniors, with about 69-per-cent coverage, but poorly among those with chronic health conditions, 37 per cent. The flu shot is free for everyone in Canada, except in British Columbia, Quebec and New Brunswick. In our decentralized health-care system, there’s always an exception – or three. Why is vaccination universal in some provinces but not in others?
Quebec takes the prize for head-scratching public policy. It used to have universal flu-vaccine coverage, but this year decided to target high-risk groups only – seniors over the age of 75, children aged six-to-23 months, pregnant women and those with chronic conditions.
It even launched an ad campaign with the tag line: “When it comes to the flu, we’re not all the same.” This is a ridiculous approach.
There is no question that some people are at much higher risk of illness and death if they contract influenza. But who in the hell do we think they get the flu from?
Infections spread via family and friends, caregivers and strangers. So why would we discourage anyone from getting a flu shot, from becoming potentially infectious? One of the main reasons to promote universal vaccination – whether it’s for measles or the flu – is to achieve herd immunity, to have so many people vaccinated that a pathogen can’t get a foothold and spread.
