Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging parents to get their children vaccinated against the flu as provincial governments across the country scramble to deal with hospitals overflowing with sick children. Admissions of children with the flu have skyrocketed across the country, with more children being admitted with the flu than at any time in at least a decade, according to surveillance data. Mr. Trudeau said Monday he was concerned about the rise in respiratory illnesses and called on Canadians to “step up again” to get vaccinated against both COVID-19 and the flu to keep their families and communities safe. “I am extremely concerned about what the children of Canada are facing right now. Families are really worried about whether they will be able to get their children to the hospital,” he told reporters at an unrelated news conference. Flu hits Canadian children’s hospitals British Columbia is heading for a record year for flu shots, but the push to protect the elderly has left behind the most vulnerable group – children under 5. This weekend, public health officials are launching a flu vaccination program for young children who are most at risk of serious illness. More than half of BC seniors have gotten a flu shot this year, but only 20 per cent of children between the ages of six months and 4 years have gotten a flu shot. As the holiday season approaches, health officials hope to increase that rate in the coming week. Dr. Bonnie Henry, District Health Officer, said at a news conference Monday that the annual flu season arrived early, in mid-November. At the time, BC Children’s Hospital was already canceling dozens of surgeries due to staff shortages and an increase in respiratory infections. It is influenza, not COVID-19, that is driving the patient burden, and the virus has not yet peaked, according to Dr. Henry. “We are still early in this flu trajectory. “We’re starting to see the impact of a large number of children who haven’t been exposed to the flu for a few years, and a small percentage of them are getting seriously ill,” he said. “But we still have time to soften the impact.” Children’s emergency services at major hospitals have already been reorganized to deal with the surge in cases in the province, however, BC Children’s Hospital briefly activated a “Code Orange” alert Saturday morning because it did not have the resources to manage the demand. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters the province has taken some steps to ease the pressure, including bringing in pediatricians to treat patients in the emergency department at Victoria General Hospital and creating a satellite emergency clinic in BC Children’s. Starting next week, Surrey Memorial Hospital will place emergency physicians at the Surrey Urgent and Primary Care Center so it can redirect some patients, and Peace Arch Hospital will offer pediatric services in its urgent care clinic. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford’s government faced questions Monday about how it could have allowed a surge in patients to prompt one of its premiere pediatric facilities, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, to call the Red Cross for help. The local MPP for CHEO in Ottawa South, Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser, said this shows the government has failed to properly plan for the decline of the disease. “It’s absolutely incredible to me that we’re calling on an organization that deals with humanitarian disasters to help,” Mr Fraser said. In Question Period, Ontario’s opposition NDP Leader Peter Tabuns said the move shows the government has been caught off guard by the situation at children’s hospitals. Progressive Conservative MPP Robin Martin, the provincial parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, responded by saying the Red Cross attendance “was certainly part of our planning to make sure we had the care we needed for the pediatric patients at CHEO and other pediatric hospitals. But Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, later said calling on the Red Cross to help hospitals was not part of the government’s plan. Mr. Ford, joined by the Prime Minister for an unrelated announcement at a GM plant in Ingersoll, Ont., praised CHEO CEO Alex Munter for “thinking outside the box” in handling the situation at his hospital . But he did not answer a question about whether using the Red Cross was part of the government’s plans, instead listing his pledges to increase health care funding and the number of nurses. In Alberta, 65 staff members were redeployed from the Rotary Flames House and five outpatient clinics to help with a spike in respiratory illnesses. Some medical staff have also given up corporate positions to work on the front lines, said Margaret Fullerton, chief executive officer of the Alberta Children’s Hospital. At the affected clinics, Ms. Fullerton said there is a 30 to 50 percent reduction in services related to orthopedics, nephrology, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and surgical services. He said patients with urgent needs would continue to be prioritized at these clinics, but other appointments would be postponed. Ms Fullerton said there were contingency plans in place at the hospital if respiratory care needs increased, but did not elaborate. Kerry Williamson, a spokesman for Alberta Health Services, said there are no plans at this time to offer support from outside agencies, such as the Red Cross in Ottawa. Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping said Monday there are signs the surge in flu cases may subside soon, but acknowledged future bouts of respiratory infections are likely in the coming months. He said the government is finding ways to move people through the system faster, but the long-term focus is on building capacity.
