British Columbians urged to get flu, COVID-19 shots amid vaccine ‘disinformation’

It appears more British Columbians are rolling up their sleeves to get the flu and COVID-19 shots this year compared to last year, an upward trend health officials say they support.

B.C.’s Health Minister Josie Osborne had a message for residents on Wednesday as the 2025-2026 fall vaccination campaign gets underway.

“I do want to just speak briefly about something that continues to concern me, and that is the growing amount of misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, much of it coming from outside Canada, particularly the United States,” she said.

“These false claims can undermine confidence in proven public health measures and make it harder for people to make informed choices. Here in British Columbia, we base our health policies and decisions on strong scientific evidence and expert medical advice.”

Numbers released by the B.C. government on Wednesday stated as of Oct. 19, almost 275,000 people have been vaccinated for influenza in B.C., compared to almost 254,000 by the end of the first week of the campaign last year.

In addition, as of Oct. 19, almost 215,000 people have been vaccinated for COVID-19, compared to almost 158,000 by the end of the first week of the 2024 campaign.

Everyone in B.C. is urged to get an influenza and COVID-19 vaccination this season.

B.C.’s deputy provincial health officer, Martin Lavoie, said there are “quite a number” of viruses and bacteria circulating in communities at this time, causing the common cold but also pneumonia and other serious ailments.

“That could lead a number of people to end up in hospital intensive care units and even a few will be dying,” he said.

“We’re all potentially susceptible, but we know that we have a number of different groups who are at most at risk of severe disease and complications and usually, typically what we see there is the very young, the very old, and people with chronic medical conditions, more particularly.”

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Lavoie encourages people six months and older to get immunized with the updated influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.

For COVID-19, B.C. health officials strongly recommend that people who provide essential community and health-care services and those with the highest risk of severe illness and complications get immunized.

Notifications to book influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations are being sent through the Get Vaccinated system. Anyone not yet registered in the Get Vaccinated system can register online or by calling 1 833 838-2323. Vaccines are available through health authority clinics, more than 1,200 participating pharmacies and some primary-care providers’ offices.

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