Health officials warn of pediatric hospital surge as B.C. MLA questions value of vaccine outreach materials

Hours after the country’s top health officials warned of a growing surge of influenza, RSV and other viruses sending children to hospital in droves, a Liberal MLA questioned the value of B.C. Centre for Disease Control pamphlets containing vaccine information. 

On Thursday morning, Dr. Theresa Tam told journalists that pediatric hospitals in particular are seeing surges in patients, and that overall their “surveillance indicators point to the need for stepped up precautions as SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other seasonal respiratory viruses could continue to co-circulate in the weeks ahead.”

As she urged parents to vaccinate their children to avoid serious illness and overwhelming hospitals that are already struggling, Tam also revealed that federal health officials are importing ibuprofen from the United States and acetaminophen from Australia in the face of critical shortages of pediatric medications.

Around noon Pacific Time, the MLA for Kelowna West tweeted a video of himself standing behind a boardroom table with dozens of pamphlets and brochures he said were sent to his office from the BCCDC.

“I’m wondering the value in this material in communications,” said Ben Stewart as he held two posters.

“We’ve reached out to the settlement services, the school district, and different ethnic groups here in Kelowna and West Kelowna and found that there’s been very little interest in this.”

He went on to ask: “What do you think of the use of your tax dollars on this kind of printed material and the fact that most of this may end up in the recycling?”

He deleted the tweet about half an hour later.

A family doctor who was tapped by the province to help communicate to nervous parents the effectiveness and low risk of vaccines was “absolutely horrified” when she saw Stewart’s comments.

“It really is quite a slap in the face as a parent and as a physician,” said Dr. Anna Wolak from her Vancouver practice, where she’s seeing a rise in young patients with respiratory symptoms.

“Vaccines aren’t available for RSV or enteroviruses, but for COVID-19 and flu, these are vaccine-preventable illnesses and we should be stepping up our game and getting vaccines into arms.” 

Health officials across the country have struggled to raise pediatric vaccination rates, with several campaigns underway to explain the benefits of immunization, notably reduced risk of serious symptoms.

“Right now is a critical moment for pediatric hospitals,” said Tam, encouraging parents to speak with their pediatrician, and everyone to consider masking in crowded indoor spaces as more people get sick.

“It's not perfect like all other layers, but if (masks are) added to the other layers of protection including vaccination, then it might actually make a difference in terms of dampening the surge so that the hospitals can cope just a little bit better.”