(File photo/CKOM News)

By Nolan Kowal

Flu Season

Remote, northern communities most vulnerable during flu season: SHA

Nov 29, 2023 | 2:26 PM

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is encouraging people who live in northern communities to get vaccinated as the cold weather brings about flu season in the province.

“Going into the winter, there are influenza-like illnesses,” said Dr. David Poon, a medical health officer who works with communities north of Prince Albert. “Now we’re looking at the COVID vaccine similar to how we look at flu vaccines…one a year.”

“The reason we say that is because like the flu, COVID can change every year. And if it changes, if the virus is a bit different, people can still get sick. And we want to make sure people are protected from that.”

Poon added getting people immunized in remote communities can be challenging given that many people have to travel to get access to the proper healthcare. But he said they’re going in the right direction.

“Uptake has been steadily growing, but uptake could be growing a bit faster,” he said. “And uptake in the North is needing some more support to get to higher numbers where we feel more comfortable and more prepared for the winter seasons.”

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“We want to make the immunization rates better. We want to also lower to risk of people getting the flu and COVID.”

Poon said northern communities are more vulnerable for a number of reasons, including people having to go to work even if they are ill because they are in specialized roles, the inability to isolate properly in crowded households, and a lack of proper communication with unreliable internet.

“That’s why it’s so important for us to be able to communicate and connect with the communities to bolster those immunization rates and lower the levels of infections,” he said.

Poon warned the pandemic was proof of the serious repercussions if a lot of people get sick at once.

“If people get sick that can ultimately lead to people who have different health conditions to get worse, we can have people who are healthy suddenly get much worse in their health status, and of course there are the long-term consequences of illness, which can include death.”

“And these are major concerns that we have every year both from COVID as well as from flu. Because flu and influenza…these are major things that affected people well before the pandemic.”

Poon added immunization is just one of the preventative measures the SHA recommends.

“That’s why prevention is the best that we can hope for, and that includes both getting vaccinations as well as items such as not going to work when sick, doing proper hand-washing, covering your coughs, and if you’re comfortable, wearing the masks,” he said.

Poon said people should get in touch with the SHA if they have questions. They are also holding weekly Zoom calls every Wednesday at 1 p.m. that are open to the public.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com