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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
More flu vaccines coming to Merritt By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
WEEKEND RETREAT Wanda McConnell works on piecing together an unfinished project at the Nicola Valley Quilters Guild’s Quilters Retreat. From Friday through Sunday at the Civic Centre, quilters got to take some time away from the hustle and bustle of their lives to focus on some of their personal quilting projects. Michael Potestio/Herald
Nicola Valley health-care institutions are getting more flu vaccines to meet the higher than usual demand from Merrittonians. Pharmasave’s pharmacy manager Ken Dyer told the Herald demand for the vaccine right now is above normal. “We’ve been very busy,” Dyer said. “Normally in January we’re starting to taper off on our vaccinations, but we’ve had this burst of activity in the last week or two,” Dyer said. “A lot of people [are] interested in getting the flu shot who haven’t been vaccinated already.” On Jan. 9, about 15 people came to the pharmacy seeking the flu vaccine, Dyer said. However, the store’s supply has run out and it is in the process of ordering more. “We had 30 doses earlier this week and we’ve gone through those already,” Dyer said last week. It’s not usually difficult to receive enough vaccines to meet the demand, he said. “Usually the province has an abundance and it has more vaccine than is called for,” Dyer said, noting the prevalence of the flu in the media has likely stirred a higher demand than usual. Dyer said the provincial government usually buys enough vaccine to immunize about 30 per cent of the population. Local public health nurse Megan Omasta said the hospital’s public health unit has a limited amount of flu vaccine left. She said they have made a request for more. Omasta also said she’s seen a
slight increase in demand for the vaccine at the public health unit. “We normally have a surge of people wanting flu shots in January, so it’s normal, but just a little bit higher than normal,” Omasta said. Dr. Rob Parker, senior medical health officer for the Interior Health Authority, said IH has used up about 95 per cent of its flu vaccine stock — consisting of 190,000 doses — most of which was used in November and December. “We still have it in all of our health unit locations, I’ve checked. But if people are looking at pharmacies, it may be hit and miss,” Parker said. Parker said there isn’t a shortage of the vaccine as health units are carrying it, and it is commonplace to have used most of their stock to immunize people prior to peak flu season in January. “We’re not out yet. We’ve got vaccine. I’m just saying we may not have enough to resupply each and every pharmacy,” Parker said. Parker told the Herald there had been 51 reports of lab-confirmed cases of influenza within IH as of Jan. 9. “That represents only a small portion of all the people out there with influenza,” Parker said, noting not everyone who contracts the flu sees a doctor. They also may never have their illness confirmed to be the flu. “The absolute number of lab confirmed cases in one way is irrelevant. What it does give us is a bit of a trend,” he said. Although not every one of these cases has been defined as a specific strain of the flu yet, Parker said that so far, all of them have come back as H1N1.
See ‘Flu shots’ Page 3
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