Flu shots being delivered across the province

Alberta Health Services started administering flu shots throughout the province on Monday, including in Lac La Biche County.

The shots were available throughout the last week at the Health Unit offices in the Provincial Building as well as at a number of pharmacies throughout the county.

In many ways, the message was the same as usual from Alberta Health Services - the flu shot helps protect you and those around you from getting sick and that’ s why you should get it.

But this year there are some key changes, with one particular extra reason to get the shot.

This is the first year the quadrivalent vaccine is being administered throughout the province to defend from four possible strains of the flu. In previous years, the vaccine has been trivalent, which meant that the vaccine had been created to protect against three possible strains.

This particularly matters because the most prominent strains of influenza virus change every year, meaning that a new influenza vaccine has to be created to protect against the virus. With more strains the body is trained to defend itself against, the less likely a person should be to get sick from the virus.

“It protects against four different types: two influenza A and two influenza B,” said Alberta Health Services medical officer of health Mayank Singal. Influenza A can affect animals and humans while influenza B affects only humans.

Other changes this year include the taking out of FluMist and FluAd from the roster of ways to administer the shot from free clinics. FluMist is a spray vaccine intended for children, and FluAd a variant form of the vaccine intended to be used for seniors.

“NACI [the National Advisory Committee on Influenza] recommended taking away the FluMist, as it wasn’ t found to be any better than the shot,” said Singal. “But the flu shot as a whole will still be available for everyone.”

The FluAd vaccine will still be available at places such as senior’ s homes and long-term care homes.

Flu shot administrations can be found at local pharmacies and at centres that can be found at the link here.