This year’s flu season is turning out to be one of the deadliest on record, according to new government health statistics.
Over 560 Canadians have died and more than 7,400 have been hospitalized as a result of the influenza virus during the 2014/2015 flu season which ends in August.
That number is the highest since a flu pandemic struck Canada in 2009/2010, hospitalizing 7,188 and killing 351 people.
The flu season has been particularly bad in Alberta where 103 people died of lab-confirmed influenza, according to Alberta Health Services.
WATCH: It’s a deadly milestone that hasn’t been seen in nearly 20 years in Alberta. There have been more than 100 flu-related deaths this season. Jessica Kent explains.
READ MORE: Flu vaccine offered little or no protection in Canada this year: study
Edmonton pharmacist Thomas Schadek told Global News that bad flu seasons highlight the importance of vaccines.
“You never know when they’re going to come but we’re sort of always on guard for it and that’s why from year to year we’re always really diligent about enforcing that message about getting your flu vaccine done,” he told Global News.
READ MORE: 5 ways to protect yourself from the flu
However this year’s flu vaccine offered little or no protection to the strain of influenza making its way across Canada, according to a study published in January. The study, based on data from four provinces including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec found the vaccine did virtually nothing against the dominant H3N2 strain.
“I would say overall it’s signalling no protection,” Dr. Danuta Skowronski, the lead author of the study and an influenza expert at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control said in an interview at the time.
– With files from Global News’ Caley Ramsay and The Canadian Press
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