Why are more Manitobans getting vaccinated for flu than COVID-19? Answers are tough to pinpoint
'COVID is the real threat right now,' says University of Manitoba medical professor
The number of COVID-19 infections recorded in Manitoba so far this fall is well above the number of influenza cases — but data shows more Manitobans have been vaccinated against the flu than COVID, in what one expert calls "a kind of backwards world."
About 12 per cent of all Manitoba residents had received a COVID-19 vaccination this fall as of Nov. 18, while just over 17 per cent were vaccinated against influenza, according to provincial data sent to CBC News on Nov. 20.
The difference in those numbers is frustrating, said Jordyn Lerner, director of the immunization program at the University of Manitoba's Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
Right now, "COVID cases are high, whereas there's almost no flu cases, so it's just like a kind of backwards world, where people aren't getting their COVID vaccine, when COVID is the real threat right now," said Lerner, who is also an assistant professor at the university's family medicine department.
The vaccines are available "for the most part, on every corner pharmacy, every family doctor's office, every walk-in clinic … so truly, I don't know what the big barrier is," said Lerner.
He doesn't believe public health messaging is the problem.
"I don't know if it's just the COVID fatigue or what, but the province is trying the best they can."
From the end of August to mid-November, there were 75 flu cases recorded, according to the province's latest respiratory virus surveillance report. There were 2,492 COVID-19 cases — 33 times as many — recorded over the same period.
From Nov. 10 to 16, a total of eight new cases of both influenza A and B were recorded in Manitoba, compared to 216 new COVID, the data shows.
It also reports 11 deaths associated with COVID in that week, as well as 54 hospital admissions and four people sent into intensive care. There were no influenza-related deaths or associated hospital admissions during that same period, and only one person was admitted into intensive care because of the flu.
Uptake of both vaccines is on the same trajectory as last year, the province said, but there could be delays in vaccinations being added to the immunization registry, so rates might be better than current data suggests.
'Local champion' approach
Vaccination uptake remains higher among seniors in the province, with nearly 48 per cent of people over age 65 vaccinated for influenza and almost 39 per cent vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Nov. 18. Those are similar numbers compared to last year, the province said.
Dasantila Golemi-Kotra, a biology professor at York University in Toronto, said while Manitoba's overall vaccination rate didn't shock her, she was surprised the rate for seniors wasn't higher.
"Someone is dropping the ball somewhere," she said.
"People don't see an urgency to get vaccinated [against COVID-19], because virulence of this virus is not as it used to be."
Lerner says he's seen a successful approach at some assisted living facilities through relying on "local champions" — advocates who ensure everyone in the building is aware and prepared to get their vaccinations.
A retired nurse living at one facility, for example, "took it upon herself to go door to door, make sure all the residents had their consent forms, make sure they knew what time we were coming to give the vaccines," said Lerner.
If the province recruited more people like that nurse, it would do "amazing things" for vaccination uptake, he said.
'Stay home when you're ill': Roussin
Manitoba's chief public health officer says many Manitobans typically aren't eager to get vaccinations against those diseases until the peak of respiratory virus season.
"It's great to get the vaccine, but it's much better to have it before we see the height of the respiratory virus season," Dr. Brent Roussin told host Marcy Markusa in a Nov. 21 interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.
He also said adherence to staying home while sick has weakened.
"We're starting to see that wane over time, and then that just leads to more and more transmission of the virus," said Roussin.
"Our messaging is … the actual pathogen at this point isn't the important thing — it's to stay home when you're ill."
But the behaviour we're seeing is simply human, said York University's Golemi-Kotra.
"Our lives are very busy," she said. "There is a lot of responsibility, there are a lot of things that are going on, and hence one probably is less inclined to do sort of what is recommended to them."