How is B.C.'s respiratory illness season shaping up this year?

Maybe you sense it in the sniffles of your family. Or the absences at work. Or the concerning coughs on the bus.

It’s respiratory illness season.

B.C. is several weeks into its vaccination campaign for fall illnesses and early numbers are suggesting a quicker uptake this year than last.

Here's what you need to know.

B.C.’s Ministry of Health says all residents aged six months and older can get flu and COVID-19 vaccines free of charge. Notifications by text and email have been sent out to people registered in the provincial Get Vaccinated system.

RSV vaccines are also available, but generally aren't free. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) says the First Nations Health Authority covers the cost for eligible pregnant people, otherwise the shot costs about $300.

Dr. Brian Conway with the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre says, in general, the goal of a vaccination program for seasonal diseases like the flu or COVID-19 is to get to a place where the number of cases are fewer than half of what would be expected in unvaccinated people. 

“If we get 75 per cent of high-risk populations and 50 per cent of the general population vaccinated, we generally achieve those benchmarks if there is no vaccine mismatch with the strains in the community,” Conway said.

The BCCDC’s latest weekly summary, covering Nov. 2-8, describes COVID-19 activity as moderate and influenza and RSV activity as low compared to past seasons.

Conversely, it also reports the flu and RSV beginning to increase with COVID-19 activity decreasing.

“The proportions of emergency department and primary care visits for respiratory illness have increased over recent weeks, but trends are comparable to the same period of the prior season,” the BCCDC’s summary notes.

A key aspect for planning B.C.’s fall and winter vaccinations is the experience in Australia as their seasons, like other Southern Hemisphere locales, are opposite to those of Canada.

That also means their flu season happens before ours and Canadians get the benefit of seeing what strains are circulating and what vaccines are needed to counteract it.

Conway says the Australian experience with flu was “very concerning" this year, with a record high numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.