Nova Scotia Health sees silver lining in lower flu, COVID vaccine uptake

As flu vaccination rates have dipped slightly and COVID-19 vaccinations have plummeted in recent years, a Nova Scotia Health official remains optimistic.

That's because of who is getting vaccinated.

For the 2024-25 respiratory season, 135 Nova Scotians died because of the flu, while 123 died from COVID-19. This marked the first year since the beginning of the pandemic that flu deaths outnumbered COVID ones.

For this latest respiratory season, about 30 per cent of Nova Scotians got their flu shots, while it was just under 19 per cent for COVID-19.

For the past decade, the rate of influenza vaccination has been around one-third for Nova Scotians.

Dr. Catherine Brown, the regional medical officer of health for the central zone, said flu vaccination rates have been much greater in high-risk groups. She said they have averaged around 60 to 65 per cent for people over 65 and are even higher for people in long-term care facilities.

For COVID-19, it's a little trickier to compare the vaccination rates. While introduced in Nova Scotia in late 2020, the vaccination program in the early years of the pandemic was considered ongoing and hadn't yet moved to a seasonal program like the influenza vaccine.

By the end of 2022, almost 87 per cent of Nova Scotians had received a primary dose of the COVID vaccine.

For the 2023-24 respiratory season, the COVID vaccination rate was 22.8 per cent. Last year, it was 18.6 per cent, but it was 49 per cent for Nova Scotians over 65 and around 75 per cent for people in long-term care facilities, said Brown.

"That's really encouraging to see that those Nova Scotians who are most at risk of getting sick from flu and COVID are the ones who are most likely to get vaccinated," she said.

Brown said the COVID virus has evolved over time and is less severe than it once was.

She said while the province recommends that everyone who is eligible for flu and COVID-19 vaccines get them, it's especially important for people in higher-risk categories.

While there's overlap between the two shots for groups classified as being at high risk — people over 65 or living in long-term care — there are differences. For example, children under five are considered at elevated risk of severe illness or death from the flu, but not COVID, unless they are immunocompromised.

"Who we really want to see get vaccinated are those at increased risk because that really is the best tool to protect themselves against these diseases," said Brown.