Influenza or “the flu” is a serious respiratory infection caused by the influenza virus. It infects the nose, throat and sometimes the lungs.
There are three families of influenza virus: A,B and C. C mostly affects ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens. The B type mainly affects humans and causes a milder disease. The B family changes very little from year to year. The A family poses the most serious problems for humans and causes 95% of influenza cases.
There are many symptoms of the flu:
- Fever
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Runny / stuffy nose
- Muscle and body aches
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Chest discomfort
Most people are only ill for a few days, while some can be ill for 1 to 2 weeks. It can take up to 6 weeks to fully recover from an influenza infection. Some people become much sicker and may need hospital care.
The flu is easily spread among the population via tiny respiratory droplets from an infected person that land in the mouth or nose of someone nearby. Coughing, sneezing, and even talking are common ways of spreading the virus. Less often, it can also be spread by touching contaminated surfaces, toys or eating utensils or touching unwashed hands then touching your mouth, nose or eyes.
The flu takes 1 to 4 days to incubate in humans. You may be able to spread the flu to others even before you know you are sick. Some people are able to infect others 1 day before symptoms develop. Adults can continue to infect others for up to 7 days after getting sick. Children and those with weakened immune systems can remain contagious for even longer periods of up to 10 days.
Get plenty of rest and plenty of liquids. Treat symptoms with over the counter medication like cough suppressants and ibuprofen or acetaminophen for aches and fever.
The standard treatment for the flu is rest and plenty of liquids. Treatment also includes methods to prevent spreading the virus, like frequent hand washing, coughing or sneezing into your sleeve and cleaning surfaces.
Medications to treat symptoms can help as well. Cough suppressants for cough, ibuprofen or acetaminophen for aches and fever.
There are prescription antiviral medications that are sometimes used to treat the flu to shorten duration and decrease symptoms.
These medications need to be administered within 48 hours of the start of symptoms.
In severe cases, the flu can cause complications in patients like pneumonia and respiratory failure and can even lead to death
The flu shot is the best prevention of influenza. There are other habits that can help avoid getting or spreading the flu:
- Wash your hands….often
- Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze
- Don’t touch your face
- Clean surfaces and shared items
Yes, it is possible to have the flu as well as other respiratory illnesses and COVID 19 at the same time. Health experts are still studying how common this can be. Many of the symptoms of the flu and COVID 19 are similar making it difficult to differentiate between them based on symptoms alone.
Getting a flu shot will not protect you from COVID 19. However, the flu shot has been shown to reduce the risk of flu illness, hospitalization and death. Getting a flu shot will not only reduce your risk of flu, but also help conserve potentially scarce health care resources this year.
There is no evidence that getting a flu vaccination increases your risk of getting sick from a coronavirus like COVID19. A study in Canada demonstrated the flu vaccine did not increase risk for seasonal coronaviruses and highlighted the protective benefits of flu vaccination.
The flu vaccine tells your body to start making antibodies against the influenza virus. Antibodies are proteins in our blood that recognize and fight off germs, like the influenza virus, that infect our bodies. Without the flu shot, our body needs to become infected with the flu to start making antibodies against it and by then it is too late.
There are two main strains of influenza, Influenza A and Influenza B.
The Quadrivalent vaccine protects from 2 strains of Influenza A and 2 strains of Influenza B.
The Trivalent vaccine protects against 2 strains of Influenza A and 1 strain of Influenza B.
Due to changes in the virus from year to year, the flu shot is typically anywhere from 10 to 60% effective against the strains of influenza circulating during the flu season.
Flu vaccines take up to two weeks to start providing protection. Getting vaccinated as early as possible is your best line of defence. Because the flu strains can evolve and change from year to year a previous vaccine may not be effective for this year. For this reason, it is important to get vaccinated every year.
You only need to receive the flu shot once a year ideally at the beginning of every flu season which runs from fall to early spring of each year. Previously unvaccinated children under 9 years of age will require two doses given at least 4 weeks apart.
A flu shot is necessary every year because the virus can change between years so immunity isn’t carried over from one year to the next.
There are many ingredients in a flu vaccine, but here are some to note.
Some flu shots contain antibiotics such as neomycin, polymyxin B, gentamicin and/or kanamycin.
Thimerosal can be used as a preservative in some flu vaccines.
Formaldehyde could be used to inactivate the influenza virus, although most formaldehyde is removed before the vaccine is packaged.
If you have allergies to any of these, please discuss with your doctor or pharmacist before getting your flu shot.
Injectable forms of the vaccine are inactivated and so contain no live forms of the virus and therefore cannot infect you.
It is NOT possible to get influenza from a flu vaccine injection.
All people aged 6 months and older should get the flu shot. Of course, there are some exceptions for people who have certain allergies or medical conditions.
- Infants less than 6 months of age
- Anyone with a serious allergy to a component of the vaccine
- Anyone who has developed Guillian-Barre Syndrome 6-8 weeks after receiving a past influenza vaccine
- Anyone who developed Oculorespiratory Syndrome after past influenza vaccination should discuss this with their doctor prior to re-vaccination
- Anyone acutely ill with a fever
- All pregnant women
- Adults and children with certain chronic health conditions
- People of any age who live in nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
- Adults aged 65 years and older
- All children aged 6-59 months of age
- Indigenous peoples
Yes, the flu shot is safe in pregnancy. Pregnant women are among people at high-risk of influenza related complications, and as such are especially recommended to get the flu shot.
The high dose flu vaccine is specially formulated for individuals 65 years and older. The high dose flu vaccine protects against three strains of influenza virus in higher doses than the standard vaccine. As you get older, your immune system weakens, which means your antibody response after getting the standard-dose flu vaccine isn’t as high as it used to be. The high-dose vaccine helps promote a stronger immune response to the flu than the standard vaccine.
Patients need to be at least 2 years of age. Patients younger than 2 can get the flu shot at their doctor’s office or at some public health units.
Mild soreness at the vaccination site is the only common side effect. Other, less common side effects are headaches and muscle pain.
Flu shots are available now.
Appointments for flu vaccinations are preferred. Walk-ins are accepted depending on vaccine availability and scheduled appointments. Please call the pharmacy first to determine availability.
All patients arriving for a flu shot will be pre-screened for symptoms of COVID19. If you have any signs or symptoms of COVID19, please reschedule your appointment to a later date.
You will receive a confirmation email when you book your flu appointment. Attached to this, is a form you should fill out at most 24 hours prior to your flu shot appointment. Please either print it out and bring it with you when you come, or email it to the store.
Please arrive no more than 5 minutes early for your flu shot appointment to help enable social distancing.
Masks will be required by all patients receiving a flu vaccination.
You will be expected to remain in the pharmacy for 15 minutes after your injection to observe for rare reactions to the vaccine.
We’re operating on an appointment basis to enable social distancing for patients and our staff.
There will be diligent room sanitation and disinfection after each flu shot is administered.
PPE will be worn by all pharmacy staff and masks will be required by all patients receiving a flu shot.
Hand sanitation stations will be available at several locations throughout the store.
Yes, you will be expected to remain in the pharmacy for 15 minutes after your injection to observe for rare reactions to the vaccine.
If you need to cancel your appointment for any reason, you can follow the link provided in your appointment confirmation email. You can also call us at the pharmacy to cancel.
If you develop any potential symptoms of or have a known exposure to someone with COVID19, for the safety of our patients and staff, please call us at the pharmacy to reschedule your appointment.
In addition, anyone acutely ill with a fever should reschedule their injection.
Unfortunately, pharmacies will not be getting the nasal spray vaccine this year as part of the Ministry of Health flu shot program.
Yes, this year pharmacies have two flu vaccine options for seniors.
- High dose flu vaccine; a higher dose than the standard flu vaccine provided.
- Adjuvanted flu vaccine; an additive in the vaccine to enhance the body's response to the vaccine.