Long line-ups to get a flu shot in YYC
Posted Jan 2, 2014 3:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There was a big line up of people waiting to get a flu shot in Calgary.
Two recent outbreaks of influenza have health officials warning the public to get vaccinated.
Calgary’s Medical Officer of Health says there are 965 lab confirmed cases of the flu across Alberta, 357 in the calgary region, and more than 100 have been hospitalized, most with the H1N1 strain.
Some waited more than an hour for their shot at the Brentwood Clinic in the northwest.
Dr. Judy MacDonald says this is just the tip of the iceberg; there’s at least another three months left in the flu season.
She says its hard to say what’s behind a spike in cases of the illness this year, adding its unclear if there’s an increase or if this is just media attention.
“It’s not unusual to have influenza outbreaks, and what that does is sometimes results in a facility or a unit being closed, but not always,” she said.
While there are 103 people hospitalized with the flu as of January 1st, she says there’s been no need to close any wards throughout the city.
