Montreal City Weblog

Kate 11:20 on 2025-01-07 Permalink Reply  

• MarcG 11:46 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  No mention of masks, either, of course. It’s pretty sad that we’re playing the helpless victim card in regard to viruses when there’s so much we could be doing.

• yasymbologist 11:56 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  Brought up from the years that kids can only receive effective protection from only a handful of vaccines and have to go through those virulent ordeals, one could never imagine growning up to live in this era that recommending a flu shot, or any other proven vaccines, risks being offensive. The limitation of humankind’s linear thinking, isn’t it?

  BTW, the 2024-2025 flu shot compositions target well against current most prevalent strains.

• MarcG 11:58 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  The facts that Covid and RSV are at the same positivity levels as infuenza and can have the same symptoms, that there are vaccines for both of those and they can be airborne as well, are absent. We’re not in a good position to deal with the looming H5N1 pandemic.

• Blork 12:11 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  But is it a piece on resisting the flu? I see it as just a piece about the presence of flu and how to differentiate it from a cold. And a reminder to not go to the ER unless you have an underlying condition.

• jeather 12:40 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  I have all the flu symptoms but also a positive covid test — I held out almost 5 years. Wow, it sucks.

• Kate 13:47 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  Blork, the headline “Health authorities advise caution as flu season intensifies” might misrepresent the contents, because caution in terms of flu would normally suggest getting vaccinated along with all other methods. But there isn’t any advice about what to do or not do.

  jeather, sorry to hear you caught it. Prompt rétablissement!

• CE 14:08 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  I’ve never seen a flu season where the vaccine was recommended for anyone other than the elderly or people with pre-existing conditions that would exasperate flu symptoms. Has that changed this year?

• Kate 15:23 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  CE, this federal government page says “Adults and children 9 years of age and older should receive 1 dose of influenza vaccine each year.”

• Joey 15:57 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  @CE that hasn’t been the case for flu for a while (though I think this was the first year I didn’t have to pay the $10 or whatever for my flu shot).

  @Kate have you noticed that most of the local CTV News pieces are usually this mediocre – the headline doesn’t really summarize the text, the information is incomplete, etc. It might work better on TV but written up the CTV content always seems so thin. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to report on the current wait times at ERs, to summarize what vaccines exist, etc.

• MarcG 16:20 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  Not sure why but the QC government is less enthusiastic than the feds when it comes to recommending vaccines.

• H. John 16:22 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  @CE, 2009 was unusual, because of H1N1 (swine flu), leading to a universal vaccination campaign that saw 57% of Quebecers being vaccinated by the end of the year.

  I found this HEC Research Report useful for info on flu vaccine history in Quebec and its the current status:

  https://polesante.hec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Immunisation-contre-Influenza-au-Québec-freins-impacts-et-pistes-de-solutions_01.11.2023_EN.pdf

  The quotes below are all from the report:

  The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issues influenza vaccination recommendations in all the Canadian provinces except Quebec. For everyone aged six months and older, and with no contraindications, flu vaccination is recommended and funded in all provinces save Quebec.

  In Quebec, annual flu vaccination recommendations are provided by the Comité sur l’immunisation du Québec (CIQ).

  The Quebec government introduced its flu vaccination program in 1971. Initially, the only people eligible for free flu shots were those aged 65 or over, those suffering from chronic illnesses or living in long-term care centres, and medical staff working with these patients.

  In 2000, the program was extended, now offering free vaccination to people aged 60 and over as well as anyone living with people at higher risk of complications from influenza.

  Until the autumn of 2022, the province’s flu vaccinations were only funded for specific groups at high risk of serious flu-related complications (e.g., people over 75) and individuals likely to be vectors of flu transmission (e.g., healthcare workers).

  …, the Quebec government announced restricted coverage for the 2022-2023 season, and the INSPQ ceased to recommend influenza vaccination for children aged 6 to 23 months and healthy adults aged 60 to 74 years (Brousseau et al. 2020). Over the course of the vaccination campaign, however (November 25, 2022), the government decided to extend free coverage to everyone who requested it, as the fall of 2022 proved to be an exceptional time for the intensive spread of winter respiratory viruses.

• CE 16:24 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  I had no idea about the change. The health authorities haven’t done a very good job of making that known. Unfortunately (and irrationally), my fear of needles is higher than my fear of getting the flu.

• Kate 16:49 on 2025-01-07 Permalink

  Joey, our media have different strengths. TVA and CTV are usually onto “incident” news faster than the others, so I keep an eye on them. I hadn’t even noticed that the headline of this CTV piece indicated content that didn’t exist till Blork pointed it out.

• jeather 21:07 on 2025-01-08 Permalink

  They were never particularly strict about who was eligible for a free flu shot and I got them free for a good decade before they became universally free.

  CE, they will work with you if you are scared of needles, they ask that as part of the appointment.

• Kate 21:26 on 2025-01-08 Permalink

  jeather: same here, I’d just go to the CLSC and ask.

• CE 09:19 on 2025-01-09 Permalink

  Oh I know, they’re pretty good about dealing with people like me. The biggest problem is bringing myself to make the appointment in the first place.