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Author of the article:
The Canadian press
Brieanna Charlebois
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December 9, 2022 • 5 hours ago • Read 2 minutes Join the conversation Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, speaks at the legislature press theater in Victoria, BC, Thursday, March 10, 2022. BC’s Center for Disease Control says a deadly surge in acute respiratory illnesses is showing signs of ‘stabilization, following the flu-related deaths of at least six children and youth this season. Friday’s update came a day after provincial health officer Henry said pediatric flu deaths would be included in his weekly updates. Photo by CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
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VANCOUVER – A British Columbia pediatric heart surgeon is calling for more transparency and urgency from public officials following the flu-related deaths of at least six children and youth in the province this season.
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“Parents need more knowledge (because) knowledge is essential in an emergency. What we have is ignorance, and ignorance is deadly in this situation,” Dr Sanjiv Gandhi said in an interview on Friday.
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British Columbia’s Center for Disease Control said in a statement Friday that the deadly surge in acute respiratory illnesses is showing signs of stabilizing.
The center reported that influenza A was the most detected virus in BC last week, while sewage tests indicate a slow increase in COVID-19 infections.
He said that while test positivity remains high for both the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the numbers have stabilized in the past week.
Gandhi said the 24 percent positivity rate the center reports for influenza A is still “unbelievably high.”
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“Even if that positivity rate is the same week to week, which meets the definition of stability, it’s stable in a very bad place,” he said. “I don’t think you can take comfort in those numbers.”
On Thursday, British Columbia’s Ministry of Health announced a “blitz” of flu clinics to open across the province from Friday to Sunday. Flu shots are free for all children six months of age and older in BC
While the province is on track to get a record number of people getting flu shots this year, Dr. Penny Ballem of BC Vaccine Operations said Monday that only 20 per cent of children under 11 and around 15% of teenagers have been vaccinated.
The government has said it will use its provincial health registry to contact parents to try to increase that number.
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Gandhi said vaccines are an important part of the solution, but the province should also implement stricter measures, such as mask mandates in schools and other public places.
“I think the vaccination push is good, but I think it’s a little late and I don’t think it’s coming with the urgency it needs to,” he said.
“This is March 2020 for children, and it’s worse than March 2020 for the elderly,” he said, referring to the dramatic death toll of the elderly from COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic
“Dead children are dead children (and) there is nothing more horrible than a dead child.”
Friday’s update from the CDC comes a day after provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said pediatric flu deaths would be included in the center’s weekly updates.
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“Early findings indicate that some of the children experienced secondary bacterial infections that contributed to severe illness, which can be a complication of influenza,” Henry said in a statement.
“It is important to know that influenza-associated death in previously healthy children remains rare.”
The recent flu deaths among children mark a departure from the average of two to three recorded annually among children in the province between 2015 and 2019, data from the BC Coroners Service shows.
The six youths who died from the flu included one under the age of five, three between the ages of five and nine and two between the ages of 15 and 19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 9, 2022.
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