With the flu season in full swing Northern Health continues to push the use of the flu shot.
Although it has been an average flu year, the risks of catching the flu and perhaps other illnesses such as pneumonia remains.
Carolyn Bouchard is with Northern Health, and says the flu shot is as much a common courtesy to those around you as it is just another line of defence against the virus.
“The reason behind the flu shot is that we are trying to protect our most vulnerable,” she says. “Those people that are over 65, children under five, anybody with a chronic illness, because those people don’t take the flu vaccine as well as we’d like them to, because of their ages or their chronic illness.”
Bouchard says Northern Health has monitoring systems in place, and explained the risks of pneumonia and other ailments without vaccination, and says while those risks remain with people who are vaccinated – they are far less common and symptoms far less severe.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
