Achi news desk-
Alberta is seeing a spike in flu deaths, with 167 people dying last winter.
That’s the most flu-related deaths in our state in the last fifteen years.
Experts say the numbers are alarming, especially since immunization rates are so low.
Twenty-five per cent of Albertans got their flu shots last season – a three per cent decrease from the previous year.
Experts say it’s part of a wider trend of mistrust and division of vaccines that makes it harder to reach people.
“We are seeing an increase in measles cases and hesitancy around measles vaccines. We are seeing a general type of hesitancy emerging for other types of primary vaccination policy, so this is part of a trend a broader concern that is very, very frustrating,” said Tim Caulfield with the University of Alberta School of Public Health.
Caulfield says misinformation and vaccine hesitancy even extends to pet vaccines.
