BC’s public health authorities are calling on British Columbians to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities from influenza, COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses, as the 2025-26 immunization campaign is underway.
The Ministry of Health has reimplemented its mask mandate for healthcare facilities across BC as the ongoing respiratory season is in full swing.
The BC Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is reminding people to take prevention measures and seek care as levels of influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections in the province rise and have resulted in three influenza-associated deaths among children (under the age of 19) in the last two weeks of December.
Hospitals in the Interior Health region are inundated with influenza cases with six children in the province already dying from complications of the flu so far this season, about double that of an entire normal flu season.
Recent hospitalization data for influenza and other respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) show no major uptick in the Interior Health region but the authority is keeping an eye on the ongoing rising infections in Ontario and the prairie provinces.
The respiratory virus season is upon us and provincial health authorities are urging British Columbians to do “what we know works” including getting vaccinated, staying home when feeling unwell, washing hands, social distancing and wearing masks where appropriate. “The respiratory season is unfolding as we expected it would, but we are in a very different place than we were a year ago,” noted Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Following the approval last month of the Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech version has now been approved by Health Canada.
The roll out of B.C.’s Omicron-targeted COVID-19 vaccine booster program will begin later this week with the first wave of invitations via email and text message in a similar fashion as previous vaccination rounds.