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By Alyssa Rudolph

Flu Season

Flu shot bookings climb in Battlefords following start of fall vaccination campaign

Oct 20, 2025 | 5:02 PM

Battlefords-area pharmacies are seeing an increase in the number of people requesting flu vaccinations since the province’s fall immunization program began last week.

Several local pharmacies that battlefordsNOW spoke to said they are booking up to a week in advance.

“Our same patients come and get their flu shots through us every year, and I think we’ve gotten a few new people who have booked with us too,” said Abby Crozier, a pharmacy assistant at Remedy’sRX.

“We’re seeing quite a few people coming in the last 10 days,” said Fisher’s Drug Store pharmacy manager Robb Marcella.

According to the Government of Canada’s latest respiratory virus surveillance report, the most prevalent strain this season is influenza A (H1N1) most affecting those in the population age group of 65 years and older. This year’s publicly-funded vaccines include the influenza A and B viral strains that have been identified by the World Health Organization as most likely to circulate.

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Last week, Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab spoke of the importance of getting vaccinated, saying it plays a key role in keeping everyone healthy. Despite that, Pharmasave pharmacist Sanjay Kumar Pandya said many people still refuse to roll up their sleeves.

“Some of it is the lack of knowledge. They think that if they’re getting the vaccine, it’s getting them sick. So sometimes they take issue with it. We try to explain, but they’re still not interested to get it,” Pandya said. “It’s just developing the immunity, and it reduces the amount of hospitalizations and everyone should get the flu shot every year.”

According to the Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program (CRISP) Situation Report, RSV and influenza activity remain low and stable in Saskatchewan. Over the last four weeks, the most common respiratory virus detected by physicians was rhinovirus (the common cold). Twenty-two respiratory virus outbreaks were reported in high-risk settings (long-term care facilities, personal care homes and group homes) in this reporting period. Half (11) of the outbreaks reported were due to COVID-19 and the remaining eleven were other respiratory outbreaks, nine of which were due to rhinovirus. Two COVID-19-associated deaths were reported in the last four weeks. No influenza-related deaths were reported.

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Alyssa.rudolph@pattisonmedia.com