B.C. health officials plan for ‘vaccine blitz’ to protect kids during flu season

B.C. health officials are making plans for a vaccine blitz at the end of this week to protect children during influenza season.

“Or as I called it, a vaccifluoza,” Dr. Penny Balem, Immunize BC’s executive director said during a news conference Monday morning.

She was joined by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, as health officials provided an update on B.C.’s early and intense flu season.

During the last update, British Columbians learned the influenza season had arrived early in the province, putting young children and seniors most at risk.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of influenza immunization right now,” Henry said Monday, repeating the same message by health officials weeks ago.

The most recent national FluWatch report, which covers the week of Nov. 20 to Nov. 26, noted an overall increase in cases of nearly 40 per cent from the week prior. Further, it noted that the rate of infection is higher than average, when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

While over 50 per cent of people aged 65 years and older have received their influenza vaccinations, only 20 per cent of children aged 11 years and younger are immunized.

Adding to the concerns of health officials is the fact that only about 50,000 children are registered under B.C.’s Get Vaccinated system, which sends parents notifications on where and when to get immunized.

The latest census data from Statistics Canada shows there are more than 214,000 children aged four years and younger in B.C.

In hopes of reaching parents whose children are at high risk for influenza, health officials are going through the provincial registry to get contact information.

“Parents in the age group of children of six months to four years are very savvy, so we’re hoping the majority of these notifications will reach them so we can encourage them to get their children vaccinated,” said Balem.

Other efforts to get children vaccinated will include extra walk-in availability at clinics across the province from Friday to Sunday. That way, people will have protection from the flu in time for holiday gatherings.

“The typical influenza season lasts around eight weeks, so we can still blunt the peak,” said Henry, who believes B.C. is two or three weeks deep. “It’s not too late to make a difference now, so you can have safe and joyful activities with friends and family for the holidays, something we’ve missed the past two years.”

Over the weekend, BC Children's Hospital briefly activated a "code orange" for a total of 28 minutes. That level is typically reserved for natural disasters and mass casualty events.

Last month, BC Children's Hospital opened an overflow unit for its emergency room to help manage the large number of patients.

A memo announcing the overflow ER described the department as “mostly seeing viral illnesses, including Enterovirus/Rhinovirus, and now increasing presentations of influenza and RSV, as well as steady COVID-19.”

On Monday, Henry explained that children are at high risk for getting secondary bacterial infections from the flu, which can also lead to severe pneumonia.

The surge has also led to the cancellation of pediatric surgeries as the facility's limited ICU beds are occupied by children with serious respiratory illness.

Emergency room wait times at BC Children's Hospital have been as long as 12 hours in recent weeks.

The surge in sick kids has B.C.'s Surrey Memorial Hospital seeing quadruple as many patients as their emergency department was designed for, and 100 more kids per day than last year – making it one of the busiest pediatric units in the country.

This is a developing story for CTV News. Check back for updates. 

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Lisa Steacy.