Fitzgerald urges parents to vaccinate children against the flu as ER visits rise

As Newfoundland and Labrador continues to grapple with an overwhelmed Janeway emergency room and a low supply of children's cold and flu medication, the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, is urging parents to get their children vaccinated.

"If we can get vaccinated, we can certainly change that trajectory," said Fitzgerald in an interview with CBC News. "If people don't get vaccinated, we will certainly see more of the same."

Pediatric emergency rooms across the country are dealing with a surge in respiratory illness among children. The Janeway ER in St. John's has seen demand skyrocket, with daily visits jumping from 55 to 160-plus in less than a month.

According to the provincial Department of Health and Community Services, 19 people have already been hospitalized from the flu, compared to zero flu hospitalizations the previous two years. There have been two deaths so far this flu season.

The percentage of children aged six months to four years who have received the flu vaccine is 9.7 per cent, while 8.8 per cent of people aged five to 19 have the vaccine, and 47.7 per cent of the 65-plus age group. The total population has a flu vaccination rate of 24 per cent.

Fitzgerald says there are numerous reasons as to why people, especially children under the age of five, are experiencing more cases of the flu and respiratory viruses this year.

Children have not had much exposure to the flu yet, she said, and a lot of their bodies are experiencing respiratory viruses for the first time.

Fitzgerald said the flu vaccine will help reduce the risk of spreading the flu as well as the risk of being hospitalized. She said the vast majority of people who have been admitted to hospital for the flu thus far have not had their vaccine.

"We really are encouraging people to get their vaccinations, especially the flu vaccination now," said Fitzgerald.

Despite the rise in flu and respiratory viruses among children, as of now, Fitzgerald says the government will not reinstate a mask mandate and will not mandate mask wearing in schools.

From a public health perspective, she said, special measures like mask mandates can only be implemented in the case of a public health emergency. Subsequently, a public health emergency can only be declared if there's no way to mitigate the risk of an illness without introducing a special measure.

Unlike the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitzgerald says the province does have a way to mitigate and reduce the risk of flu and respiratory virus, which is getting vaccinated.

Many of the children being admitted to hospital are under five years old, she said, an age group that isn't able to easily tolerate long periods of masking in spaces like schools. 

"It's really difficult to prevent the spread of a virus like influenza if we're implementing something in just one area," said Fitzgerald. "So that's why we're asking people to make a risk assessment."