This year, many Ottawa residents are rolling up their sleeves to get a flu shot in one arm and an updated COVID-19 vaccine in the other.
At Whole Health Pharmacy on Bank Street and Fifth Avenue, owner and pharmacist Renu Pillay says he’s been busy preparing appointments for people getting their COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
“[We need to] stem the control of COVID because it’s still out there, and we need to have more people vaccinated,” he said.
“The new COVID vaccine is out, which is basically a new version so it protects against the new variants,” Pillay said. “So even if [people] had previous versions, it’s covering the new version, so it’s important to get updated.”
The updated COVID-19 vaccine protects against the Omicron KP.2 variant, while the flu vaccine protects against four strains of influenza.
Pillay says that most people coming into his clinic are opting for the flu shot and the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
“Most people want to get both,” he said.
Tessa Button, who was at the clinic getting both vaccines, said she sees the COVID-19 and flu vaccines as more or less the same at this point. She said that at the beginning of the pandemic when the COVID-19 vaccines were newly available, she found all the information confusing and stressful, but it’s different now.
“It just feels like normal.”
Alex Kent, who also opted to get both vaccines, said that he didn’t feel differently about the updated COVID-19 vaccines compared to the annual flu shot. He said he hopes getting the vaccines will help reduce symptoms if he does get sick while also protecting vulnerable populations in the community.
“I don’t want to get sick,” he said. “I don’t want to make other people sick.”
Protecting immunocompromised folks
While annual vaccines reduce the odds of getting sick and the severity of symptoms if vaccinated people do get sick, they are particularly important as a way to protect vulnerable people, including young children, the elderly and people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart or respiratory issues.
“People around them should be considering this, not only for their own health, but also to protect those around them who may live with asthma or have other respiratory health conditions,” said Jeffrey Beach, CEO of Asthma Canada.
He says that, while people with asthma aren’t more likely to contract the flu or COVID-19, what is different is how their body responds to the virus.
“For people who have respiratory illnesses, having a preventable illness like that can definitely exacerbate [it] and make the condition worse,” he said.
Beach says that, for those with asthma, getting an updated COVID-19 vaccine and an annual flu shot is an important part of disease management, as these kinds of viruses can cause inflammation in the airway and intensify asthma symptoms.
“Asthma is a disease that is related to inflation in the airways – the lungs, the surrounding tissue,” he said. “There are various triggers, and one of the things that can exacerbate asthma are preventable illnesses that affect the respiratory system.”
He says that getting vaccinated is a way of preventing illness or at least reducing symptoms, so it doesn’t escalate to severe and potentially devastating levels.
Although the severity of influenza cases varies each year, it is estimated that in any given year, the flu accounts for around 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths in Canada – mostly from vulnerable people.
According to a 2023 report from Ottawa Public Health (OPH), in the prior year, there were 3,464 hospitalizations and 1,001 deaths from COVID-19.
As such, for people at higher risk, vaccinating against flu and COVID-19 can mean the difference between mild symptoms and severe illness.
