For me, the fall is the time of year when I take stock of my health status.
It’s usually a time when I see my stock is falling.
And so, I get motivated to start exercising more and to be sure I get a flu shot. I’ve been getting flu shots for a long time and haven’t gotten the flu in all those years.
This year, I actually forgot.
I normally remind myself, but instead I had to be reminded by a Shoppers Drug Mart ad. I’ve been focused on getting a third shot for COVID-19 that I literally forgot about the flu shot.
I popped by the Shoppers outlet in Kensington Plaza and got lucky when they said they could fit me in nearly right away. I just needed to fill out a form and wait.
While I was sitting and waiting for my turn to come, I suddenly heard from the dude (why is it always a dude?) who was behind me in the line when I was asking about a flu shot.
“You know you’re a sucker, right,” he asked/stated. “You’re really going to let them inject you with whatever they feel like?”
I didn’t react at first because I was kind of stunned at what had come out of his mouth. I normally am ready to fire back when someone comes at me like that.
This is the world we live in now. A decade ago, I don’t remember people being this vocal in person with strangers about their views on such subjects. Now we have people staging protests outside of hospitals and yelling at children who are getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Like it’s just become even more brazen.
And so here I found myself sitting in a pharmacy having some stranger questioning my decision to get a flu shot. According to him, it’s all part of a “Big Pharma” conspiracy.
After I collected myself, I shot him a look that said, “Don’t eff with me” and he shut up and walked away. I then got my flu shot and felt a lot better.
This all comes as a professor with UBC’s faculty of medicine says doctors’ "usual suspect" is making a comeback: the flu.
Dr. Michael Curry explained in a recent Q&A with the university how this year’s flu season will have some key differences compared to last year.
“Last flu season we essentially had no cases of influenza and relatively few cases of other respiratory viruses here in Canada,” said Curry, attributing the lack of flu cases to the increase in COVID-19 infections. However, Curry says common respiratory viruses are back and circulating again.
“While we are still seeing COVID-19 in Canada, we are finding other respiratory viruses on a regular basis as well,” he said.
Curry fielded questions on how this year’s flu season might interact with the fourth wave of COVID-19. With the upsurge in other respiratory viruses, a resurgence in influenza can be expected.
“A bad flu season can rapidly fill up emergency departments and hospital beds, and as we all know, COVID-19 is already doing a good job at that,” Curry said, stressing the importance of British Columbians taking steps to not spread the flu -- and not just for their own health.
“Take the same precautions you are already taking for COVID-19: stay home when sick, wash your hands, cough into your sleeve, wear masks in public areas, and get immunized,” he said.
That’s some good advice.
- With files from Cameron Thomson, Vancouver is Awesome
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44
