3 Edmonton-area schools dealing with respiratory illness outbreaks as flu shot numbers lag

As cold and flu season ramps up, three Edmonton-area schools have been placed on outbreak status. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg has the details.

With three Edmonton-area schools dealing with outbreaks of respiratory illnesses as we get deeper into December, medical professionals across the province say getting vaccinated for influenza and COVID-19 are good ways to try to prevent getting sick.

The province’s Primary and Preventative Health Services ministry and one local school board are reporting the outbreaks.

Elk Island Public Schools told CTV News Edmonton on Friday that two of its schools – one elementary and one junior/senior high school – are experiencing outbreaks, while the province is reporting one Edmonton-area school has one on its respiratory virus dashboard for the week of Nov. 23.

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And while respiratory viruses are not as problematic for school-aged children compared to other demographics, students picking up such viruses at school “are one of the principal ways (they) make their way to other at-risk groups, whether that be a really young, perhaps newborn at home or visiting with grandparents over the holidays,” said Dr. Craig Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases and deputy director of the Snyder Institute for chronic diseases at the University of Calgary.

“Kids are, unfortunately, petri dishes, and they do tend to bring everything they find at school home, whether that be something in the school yard or something a little more nasty, such as a respiratory virus,” Jenne told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

But while December is almost a week old and this time of year typically sees a rise in the number of respiratory illness, Jenne said flu vaccine uptake in Alberta is lagging behind last year’s numbers.

“Last year, we hit about 20 per cent of the province being vaccinated, and that really was about a 15-year low in flu shot administration,” he said. “Right now, we’re below 17 per cent, although we do know that vaccines continue to roll out slowly, so we do expect that to creep up a little bit.”

Pharmacist Bukola Akande said Friday while more people have bought over-the-counter remedies for cold and flu recently at her west Edmonton location, the number of people seeking flu shots is down from last year.

She told CTV News Edmonton the flu shots is one of the top ways to try to prevent getting sick this season from some strains of the illness.

“Most pharmacists right now, they are accepting walk-ins, so anytime it’s convenient for you, just walk into any pharmacy and get your shots,” Akande said at her Hamptons Pharmacy.

Jenne said vaccine uptake is driven by several factors but that there’s “obviously a need for awareness, a need for advocacy” to encourage people to get vaccinated.

“People do need to be reminded that these vaccines are available, and at least with things such as the flu shot, they’re free to all Albertans, so we do need that very much in the front of our minds,” he said.

“This can’t be just something we have to look up on our own. We do know that as people lose access to family physicians, vaccine rates tend to drop as well, and that’s largely because they don’t get that opportunity to have a conversation with people they trust.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg