Public H1N1 clinics to close after Dec. 18
The number of severe new cases of H1N1 flu in B.C. dropped sharply over the past week.
Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said last Tuesday that getting vaccinated against H1N1 is still a good idea.
“We don’t really know what this virus is going to do in the spring or late winter,” Kendall said.
For those wanting to get the shot at one of the public clinics, time is running out. The mass public clinics organized by health authorities will close after Dec. 18. Wait times for vaccinations are now minimal.
“This week and next week are the time to go,” Kendall said on Dec. 8.
Doctors’ offices and some pharmacists will continue to offer the vaccine after the clinics stop.
Kendall estimated 40 per cent of the B.C. population is now vaccinated against H1N1 and he’s still hopeful a target of 66 per cent can be reached.
More than 2.1 million doses of vaccine have gone out and another 600,000 are coming this week.
Kendall also urged health care workers to get vaccinated, noting only 40 to 50 per cent as of last week had received the shot.
“We have had a number of outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the Lower Mainland and they can be prevented,” he said.
Adverse reactions to the vaccine continue to be comparable to what happens with seasonal flu vaccinations.
B.C. has reported 232 mostly mild adverse reactions, with eight serious reactions.
One man died after taking the vaccine, but officials say he died of H1N1 flu because he was infected either before the shot or before he had gained full immunity.
Three more people died in the province – two on Vancouver Island and one in the north, according to statistics from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Just 32 new patients were hospitalized from swine flu over the past week. That’s about a third the number of hospitalizations as a week earlier and way down from the peak in early November, when B.C. was recording almost 200 severe cases a week.
One of the new fatalities was a 36-year-old Vancouver Island man who died after contracting H1N1 despite having no underlying health issues.
“The tragic death of a young person is exactly why we have to keep driving home the message of how this disease works,” Kendall said.
The latest cases bring B.C.’s statistics last week up to 47 dead and 1,009 hospitalized since the pandemic began.
Five of those who died had no underlying health conditions and two more are still under investigation.
Eighty per cent of those hospitalized and 90 per cent of the deaths have been in people under age 65 and the median age of those killed is 50.
That’s in contrast to the 200 to 800 people who die each year from seasonal flu. Almost all of them are elderly, with a median age of 85.
H1N1 severe cases
in B.C.:
Fraser – 354, including 17 deaths
Interior – 231, including 11 deaths
Northern – 44, including two deaths
Vancouver Coastal – 257, including seven deaths
Vancouver Island – 123, including 10 deaths
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