The season of sniffles is upon us, and that sniffle is more noticeable than ever.
With a second wave of COVID-19 hitting the country, there are fears a bad flu season will make things worse.
But there are some promising signs if you look at Australia, who are just wrapping up their flu season.
“When we talked to our colleagues in Australia, what we’ve seen is that the demand for the flu vaccine has been quite a bit higher,” said Dr. Kelly Grindrod, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Waterloo.
She told The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS about 200% more were getting vaccinated down under than in previous years.
She says the good news is there weren’t as many cases of the flu, attributing it in part to people taking COVID-19 precautions, such as wearing a mask and physical distancing.
Grindrod says this is encouraging for our upcoming season and notes a lot more people are interested in getting the flu shot in Canada.
“If you thought about getting a flu shot in the past, but just never got around to it, this is the year to do it,” she said.
She added this is unlike previous years, where some people with a cold or flu would take a chance and go to work with it anyway.
Now, you (and/or your family) could be off for two weeks, and may not be able to return until you have a negative COVID-19 test.
“There’s all of a sudden much more significant implications for getting the flu because of COVID,” Grindrod said, pointing out those who may have been reluctant to get the flu shot in the past may go through with it now for the sake of keeping their kids at school or themselves at the workplace.
