Interior Health authority prepares for deadly influenza season

The great purge is upon us once again, the annual influenza season that sickens and kills hundreds of Interior Health Authority residents every winter.

Public health officials have long since began preparing for the 2018-2019 flu season, monitoring the latest strains as they spread through the fall and into next winter.

Influenza viruses mutate each season and this year health authorities around the world are expecting A/Michigan H1N1, A/Singapore H3N2 plus a B/Colorado strain.

This season, the Interior Health Authority is scheduled to receive from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control 240,000 doses of four different kinds of vaccines, Fluzone, Flumist, Fluviral and Influvac, targeted at he various strains, communications officer Susan Duncan said in an email statement.

The health authority will accept delivery of staggered shipments of vaccine throughout October and into November, Duncan said.

Residential care homes, where influenza exacts its grimmest toll each winter, will be the first on the delivery list followed by First Nations, specific workplaces, physicians and pharmacists, Duncan said. The health authority doesn't record exactly how many deaths are caused by influenza in its service area but it's known to kill dozens of elderly residents of long-term care facilities each year.

Some community immunizers will likely begin offering the vaccine in mid-October, Duncan said, with public health starting its annual free vaccination campaign Nov. 1.

The health authority maintains a list of people who are eligible for a free influenza vaccine and urges those who are not covered to get it through their physician, pharmacist or travel clinic.


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John McDonald

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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