Get vaccinated so illness doesn't ruin your holiday plans: top Manitoba health officials

With major winter holidays quickly approaching, officials in Manitoba are asking more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza to build up their immunity before heading to large gatherings with friends and family in the coming weeks.

"Now is that time, if you haven't had an opportunity, to be vaccinated," Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer, said at a news conference at the legislative building on Thursday.

"Take some time for your body to build up that immune response, so we can all be protected for [those] next couple of weeks where we're going to spend a lot of time indoors and we're going to be seeing a lot more transmission of these respiratory viruses. 

"[You] certainly don't want to miss out on those memories and those gatherings just because [you've] come down with something we could have prevented with a vaccine."

Roussin says health officials are hoping that encouraging people to get vaccinated will help boost the province's uptake rates. At the moment, about 16 per cent of Manitobans have received their COVID-19 shots this year, while about 22 per cent have gotten their flu shots, he said.

However, those numbers are significantly higher among people age 65 and over – a group at higher risk of serious outcomes from respiratory illness. In that group, about 48 per cent have received a COVID-19 shot this year, while roughly 57 per cent have gotten a flu shot, Roussin said. 

Manitoba's top doctor also says the province is already seeing some of the effects of the respiratory virus season in its health-care facilities, where pressure is being added to an already strained system.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says elective surgeries are still getting cancelled in Manitoba because of capacity challenges and strain on the system — a message all Manitobans need to hear.

"It's really tough to have to cancel those surgeries that people are depending on," Asagwara said, seated alongside Roussin at Thursday's news conference. 

"So we want for folks to think about, you know, your grandmother who's been waiting for that hip surgery. We want folks to think about folks who are waiting for … specific treatments as they make decisions over the holidays, and take steps that can prevent people from ending up in ICU."

Asagwara says 13 transitional beds have been added to increase support at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, where medicine beds are at capacity.

"These aren't permanent solutions, but they will help ease the pressure as we do the hard work to build capacity," Asagwara said, adding officials hope sharing those details will help persuade people to get vaccinated. 

"What we've learned over the past few years, most definitely, is that when you provide Manitobans with the information and the education that they need in order to make informed decisions about their health, most Manitobans will do just that."