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Flu concerns rise

With a rise in infections and a big dip in vaccinations, Alberta public health officials are concerned a coming flu outbreak could get nasty. Dr.

With a rise in infections and a big dip in vaccinations, Alberta public health officials are concerned a coming flu outbreak could get nasty.

Dr. Gerry Predy, Alberta Health Services (AHS) medical officer of health, said the province is beginning to see a spike in cases while at the same time few Albertans have been vaccinated this year.

“We have seen 93 lab-confirmed cases to the end of last week, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but we have to recognize that lab-confirmed cases are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Predy said AHS has so far vaccinated about 500,000 people well short of the numbers they would like to have seen and far off previous years.

He said another 300,000 to 400,000 doses have been distributed to doctor’s offices and pharmacists, but they don’t yet know how many have them have been administered.

Putting aside last year’s numbers, which were higher because of concerns about the H1N1 flu strain, Predy said the province normally sees about 1.2 million people get vaccinated.

He said if people want to assure themselves of avoiding a run-in with the flu they need to get vaccinated right away.

“We just want to be sure that people get the message that if you are going to get vaccinated, come in as soon as possible, because if you wait too much longer it is going to be too late.”

Predy said with concerns about emergency room wait times being top of mind, this is one way people can help ease the pressure.

“One of the ways we can help deal with that is to get people vaccinated and take the burden of influenza off the emergency departments.”

The H1N1 concern from last year that did not materialize into the bigger health issue many had feared might be leading to a bit of vaccination fatigue, Predy suggested, but he said it is still very important.

“They need to recognize that with influenza it is different than with other respiratory infections; it can cause quite severe infection.”

He said if people do come down with the flu, the emergency room or going to a doctor’s office is not always necessary.

“Sometimes it is hard for people to judge whether they should go to a doctor’s office or an emergency room so what we try and advise is that people do phone Health Link first.”

If someone has a serious underlying health condition like asthma, Predy said it might be safer to check with their doctor sooner rather than later.

“The people with the underlying health problems are the ones that can get into trouble.”

In St. Albert, immunization clinics are running every Tuesday and Thursday at the St. Albert Public Health centre at the corner of St. Anne Street and Sir Winston Churchill Avenue.

The Tuesday clinic operates from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the Thursday clinic from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Both clinics are drop in and don’t require an appointment.

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