Use the new Staff Flu Clinic Locator to find the clinic nearest you. The locator is available from work or home and includes locations for Fraser Health, Provincial Health Services Authority and Vancouver Coastal Health. You can attend any staff clinic, no matter which health authority you work for.
Search for a clinic by date, time, city or location. Each listing includes a Google map of the staff flu clinic site. Bring your staff ID with you. Over 200 clinics are listed, making it easier than ever.
You can also get immunized against influenza at public health units, pharmacists or a family physicians. For a listing of public health flu clinics, visit the ImmunizeBC web site.
If you are immunized somewhere other than a Staff Flu Clinic, remember to call the Flu Shot Reporting Line at 1-855-358-3580 to report that you’ve been vaccinated. Then ask your manager for the sticker to apply to your staff ID.
For more answers to questions about influenza immunization, new provincial flu immunization policy and other resources, visit www.vch.ca/staff.
Common questions and answers about the flu
I didn’t think the flu was such a big deal. Why all the fuss?
- Influenza reduces the body’s ability to fight other infections. Bacterial pneumonia, which is an infection of the lungs, is the most common complication from influenza especially in elderly people. Influenza can also lead to more complications for people who have heart, lung or other health conditions. These complications can be fatal.
- Influenza spreads easily from person to person through coughing, sneezing, or face-to-face contact. The virus can also spread when a person touches tiny droplets from a cough or sneeze and then touches their eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands.
- An infected person can spread the influenza virus even before feeling sick. An adult can spread the virus from about 1 day before to 5 days after symptoms start. Children can spread the virus up to 21 days after symptoms start.
I’ve heard you can get the flu from a flu shot. Is that possible?
- In short, no. But the vaccine does not protect against other viruses or bacteria that cause colds or gastrointestinal infections (sometimes called ‘stomach flu’).
- Vaccines used in the healthcare worker program in B.C. are killed virus particles and cannot cause the flu. People occasionally have a reaction to a flu shot, but you do not get the flu from a flu shot.
Are homeopathic products an acceptable alternative to flu shots?
- Homeopathic remedies are not Health Canada recognized interventions for prevention of influenza. As such, we cannot sanction these products as acceptable alternatives.
- The flu vaccine is the best protection against influenza illness and its complications. It’s safe and effective. All vaccines used in BC are approved by Health Canada.
Why are health care workers required to get the influenza vaccine or wear a mask during flu season?
In short, because that’s the policy instituted by Medical Health Officers across BC beginning this year. This policy was established because:
- In addition to causing deaths from influenza and secondary bacterial pneumonia, influenza has been associated with increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes. Generally, patients in healthcare facilities and long term care residents are especially at risk of developing serious complications from flu.
- Influenza-related complications in older adults include profound disability. Pneumonia and influenza are among the top three leading causes of catastrophic disability. These patients often do not return home after hospitalization, and require long term care.
- Vaccinating doctors, nurses and other patient care staff will reduce the risk of influenza transmission to patients. Infected individuals are highly contagious and can transmit influenza for 24 hours before they are symptomatic.
Can I take antivirals instead?
- Antivirals are not a substitute for vaccination or mask use.
- There were no data about the safety and efficacy of antivirals beyond a period of six weeks. Further, some recent influenza strains have shown resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and long term use could increase resistance.
- Antivirals may be offered during an outbreak setting in accordance with standard protocols.
What is the mask part of the policy?
- You can read the policy in full at www.vch.ca/staff, where you’ll also find lots of information about influenza prevention.
- Unvaccinated staff will be asked to wear a surgical/procedure mask when in patient care areas, during the designated “vaccination required period,” typically from the end November to the end of March. Health authorities will not be disciplining employees who do not comply, but instead will be focusing on education and awareness to secure compliance with the policy.
When do masks need to be changed?
- There is no set time when masks should be changed. Masks should be changed when overly moist.
- Appropriate disposal of used masks into waste receptacles and hand hygiene protocols should be followed when removing or replacing a mask. Masks are being worn primarily for source reduction and prevention of transmission to others, not as personal protective equipment.
- For example, if a mask is required as part of personal protective equipment for providing care to a patient with a droplet transmitted infection, the appropriate procedures (including hand hygiene, use of eye protection, gowns, etc.) should be followed, including putting on a new mask prior to patient contact and taking off the mask after the patient contact.
- If a health care worker is unvaccinated she or he must then put on a new mask before providing care to another patient.
- You’ll find a helpful video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8v3-lQambM&xprOpenPopup=1.
When does flu season actually start?
- Flu season usually runs from late November to late March, but this can vary. Provincial Medical Health Officer Dr Perry Kendall will declare the start of flu season based on international influenza monitoring. This year, health care workers are required to either be immunized or prepared to wear masks beginning December 1st.
When do I need to call the Flu Shot Reporting Line?
- You can call the Flu Shot Reporting Line (1-855-358-3580) if you get a flu shot from your family physician, a pharmacist or a public health clinic. If you prefer, you can email flushot@whcallcentre.ca and provide information including your name, employer, staff ID number, and where and when you got your flu shot. There’s a handy form posted at www.vch.ca/staff that you can complete and email.
- Once you’ve reported that you’ve received a flu shot, ask your manager for a sticker for your ID badge.
- You don’t need to report that you got a flu shot if you get it at one of our on-site staff flu clinics. And you’ll receive a sticker when you attend one of our on-site staff flu clinics.
Do I need to provide proof to anybody if I am unable or unwilling to get a flu shot?
- No. Your manager receives a weekly report identifying which staff have been immunized at staff flu clinics at VCH, PHC, PHSA or FH. You need to advise your manager only if you got your flu shot at a location other than a health care worker flu clinic so that she or he can provide you with a sticker.
Rebecca
I received my flu shot today but was bothered that I had to sign that “I have read the BC Health File and understand the information…” without having an opporunity to read this information.
When I asked what the BC Health File was and if I could read it before I signed, I received blank looks, then I was told the nurses had that information at their tables. They didn’t. I was told I could access the information online, however a quick Google search has brought up nothing. There isn’t a link to the BC Health File on the employee flu campain website either.
Where can I find the BC Health File was I was supposed to read?
Thanks.
Catherine Kidd
The BC Health File information was available; I’m sorry it wasn’t given to you. For future reference, BC Health Files, which cover a wide range of health-related topics, are available online at http://www.healthlinkbc.ca.
J.S.
Wearing a mask in lieu of the vaccine appears to be a thinly disguised punitive measure. Why would VCH choose this as an alternative when studies show that bacterial and viral infections are mainly transmitted through surface contact? (Unless one is in the habit of coughing or sneezing directly on their patients, hand washing is the “must do” rather than wearing a mask. If the flu were a truly airborne disease, the only types of mask that would be effective barriers are the types worn for SARS or TB patient contact. (Note we don’t have to wear a mask through “common cold” season.)
It appears to me to be one of those “solutions” designed to make it “look like something is being done”. (Kind of like the airlines removing those dull knives from their meal service and leaving the more dangerous and piercing forks, just because “knife” denotes “weapon”.) My first suspicion however is that it was chosen as a highly visible and unpleasant alternative, one that will make people choose the vaccine.
Unfortunately for those of us who work in homecare wearing a mask can be very alienating to our clients, especially those with dementia or developmental disabilities.
I have had an adverse reaction to the vaccine in the past, however I am not getting the vaccine because I do not believe it is not worth the risk of having a neurological reaction. (Guillian-Barre or other incidents of neurological deficits post-vaccine.) Studies on the effectiveness of the flu vaccine are not conclusive. Its success is limited due to the quick development of new strains and due to the fact that it is often received too late. (There have already been cases of the influenza across Canada recorded as early as August.)
Does VCH accept some kind of liability if I take the vaccine on their insistence, and then develop one of these “serious” and lasting reactions? Will they cover the costs of my rehab and ongoing disability?
Please don’t tell me that I don’t care about my patients because I don’t wish to have the flu vaccine. I DO take precautions to stay healthy and to avoid any cross contamination. I use “best practice” techniques (diligent handwashing and staying home if unwell.) I will wear the mask if I have to, but I don’t plan on wearing the button, unless you come up with one that says “I care, I wash my hands.”
Patricia Daly, MD, CMHO
Thank you for the question about masks. You are correct, the influenza virus is spread by droplets and is not airborne. But the droplets come from the mouths and noses of people infected with influenza, when those infected people talk, cough or sneeze. These droplets can spread about 1 metre, and also settle on environmental surfaces. People who touch these surfaces can become infected. The problem with influenza is that people are infectious for 24 hours before symptoms start, so you can be talking and spreading the virus without coughing. Also, a study in Scotland found that 23% of health care workers were infected with the flu in a typical influenza season, based on blood tests taken at the start and end of flu season, but 59% of those infected did not even recall being ill. Healthy adults may have mild symptoms when infected and continue to work, spreading the virus to patients and others who are at risk of much more serious disease. This is why masks are needed if you choose not to be vaccinated.
Surgical masks worn by people infected with influenza have been shown to be effective in filtering the virus and preventing the generation of those infectious droplets. N95 respirators are not necessary. Therefore there is good science supporting masks as a reasonable alternative to vaccination. If you would like to read the study that proves this: Johnson et al. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2009;49:275-7.
Guillain Barre occurs at an excess rate of approximately 1 per million people who receive flu vaccine. Therefore if all the health care workers in BC were vaccinated every year, we might see a single additional case once every 10-12 years. Guillain Barre is more common after infection with influenza. There are no other “neurological deficits” associated with flu shots.