For the second year in a row, Saskatchewan pharmacists are able to give free influenza immunizations to people nine years of age and older.
“Patients love it because they don’t have to stand in lines, we’re easily accessible so you can just come in down the street, book an appointment and come in and get your flu shot … you’re in and out in about 15 minutes,” London Drugs pharmacist Sabrina Pidperyhora said in Saskatoon on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Flu shot clinics open in Saskatoon, Prince Albert
This year, approximately 85 pharmacies throughout the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) will be offering flu shots.
Children ages six months to eight years of age, however, will still need to receive the vaccine at a public influenza clinic, doctor’s office or public health office during a routine childhood vaccination appointment.
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Here’s what we also know about the 2015 flu season:
- Four per cent of the general population within SHR received an influenza vaccine;
- One in five people with lab confirmed cases of influenza where hospitalized – 21.6 per cent were children under five, 31.2 per cent were seniors aged 65 and older; and
- Provincially, influenza caused 17 deaths.
“Really, anyone should be getting the influenza shot because it does provide great protection,” Pidperyhora said.
“However, there are some people at very high risk for developing the flu and those people are people with asthma, people with diabetes who have certain heart conditions, cancer patients, people over 65 those types of people should really think about getting the flu shot.”
What’s different this year at any of London Drugs’ 78 pharmacy locations is that when you get a flu shot, you give a flu shot.
For every immunization administered to Canadians, lifesaving vaccine will be donated to UNICEF Canada to immunize a child elsewhere in the world against tetanus, polio or measles.
WATCH MORE: Achieving immunization for all
According to UNICEF, 1.5 million children die every single year from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines – that’s one child every 20 seconds.
“Everyone deserves to be protected and it’s such a great program to allow these people who don’t have access to get a vaccination,” Pidperyhora said.
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