{"id":932104,"date":"2026-10-14T01:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932104\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T01:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:00:11","slug":"flu-season-influenza-cases-up-across-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932104\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu season: Influenza cases up across Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Flu cases are rising after Thanksgiving, but Canadians can still get vaccinated. Paul Hollingsworth reports on vaccination uptake in Halifax. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">HALIFAX- As the autumn season continues, a cold and flu bug is now spreading and more Canadians are experiencing a surge in sickness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe are seeing the start of the influenza season here in Canada,\u201d said infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, who added pockets of the influenza virus are now popping up in different parts of the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health-infobase.canada.ca\/respiratory-virus-surveillance\/influenza.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Health Canada reported<\/a> last week there were 1,149 positive detections of influenza in Canada, with a 4.7 per cent increase of positive tests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to take steps to better protect all Canadians, but also those who are more vulnerable to influenza,\u201d said Bogoch, who applauded Nova Scotia\u2019s decision to roll out its seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines earlier than normal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OGLRFFNRSVG2PEH2WOCEAIGTTQ.jpeg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Flu season influenza vaccine Pharmacist Jamie Flynn administers a vaccine at his pharmacy in Halifax. (CTV News) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI think it is a fantastic idea and if these public health units have the malleability to adjust when they are going to roll out the vaccine dates to an earlier date, then they are doing something smart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The response in Nova Scotia has been positive so far, and pharmacist Jamie Flynn is already booked solid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cPeople book them all online,\u201d said Flynn. \u201cAnd as soon as I put my appointments up, they were all booked quite quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Beth Stevens works in the retail sector, which requires her to be in close contact with the public. She said that\u2019s why she gets her vaccine every year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI have never gotten sick when I get a flu shot, so I think it\u2019s a pretty good history,\u201d said Stevens.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6IEHS6WK7VGZLH743N6ZLAQSSU.jpeg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Flu season influenza vaccine Pharmacist Jamie Flynn working at his pharmacy in Halifax. (CTV News) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Bogoch is urging Canadians to stay home when they get sick to help minimize virus spread, and he would like to see an increase in the overall vaccination rate in Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt is reliably at the 30 per cent to 40 per cent range in our country,\u201d said Bogoch. \u201cYear after year, we pretty much see the same consistent influenza vaccination rates, and we need to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Bogoch added that even if someone thinks they have already been sick with the flu, they should still get a shot, because the vaccine is designed to protect people from catching multiple strains of the virus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cDuring every flu season, we are going to have three different circulating types of influenza, and the vaccine covers all those three,\u201d he said. \u201cSo unfortunately, you can get influenza more than once during a season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cAlso, there are a lot of circulating viruses that are not the flu and are not (COVID-19) that have overlapping symptoms, and just because someone is sick, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they know what they have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flu cases are rising after Thanksgiving, but Canadians can still get vaccinated. Paul Hollingsworth reports on vaccination uptake&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[712,49,48,84],"class_list":["post-932104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}