It's been two years since the H1N1 flu pandemic raged across the world, leading to thousands of deaths.
Since then, conditions on the flu front have improved considerably, with no killer flu strains currently making headlines, and the effect is being felt in the Northern Health region.
"There's not a lot of influenza circulating at the moment," said Carolyn Bouchard, Northern Health's program manager for communicable disease for Prince George. "We usually take all our direction on this stuff from the Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver and I haven't seen anything.
"We're probably on par or maybe a bit below par with the number of immunization shots we've given in public health. In the last year, pharmacists have been focused on giving shots as well and we haven't heard back from them, but overall, the numbers are down."
Bouchard said doctors continue to administer vaccinations, but the numbers of shots they've given won't be reported to Northern Health until February.
The same vaccine made for the 2010-11 winter flu season is now being used.
It contains inactivated strains of the H1N1 swine influenza A, as well as one influenza A/H2N2 and one influenza B virus. The vaccine usually changes to reflect worldwide tracking by the World Health Organization and predictions of which flu viruses will be spread.
Flu shots are free to everybody in high-risk categories -- babies aged six months to 23 months, people with chronic illnesses (especially heart and lung afflictions) and people aged 65 years and older. Families or caregivers of people considered high-risk are also eligible for free shots.
"What happens with those specific high-risk populations is their immune systems don't work as well as a healthy person, or with children, their immune systems are immature," Bouchard said. "We immunize them but they don't take up the vaccine as well as we'd like them to, so we need to immunize those around them."
Babies younger than six months are considered too young for immunizations. Outside of the risk groups or people close to them, flu shots are available for a fee.
Hand-washing and coughing etiquette are effective ways to fight the spread of flu bugs and other airborne afflictions and Bouchard said more people are becoming aware of that.
"If you cough into your hand you think you've done your thing by covering your mouth, but you've put it on your hands and then you open a door and now the germs are on the door knob," said Bouchard. "When you cough into your sleeve, the germs cling to that fabric and can't be transmitted."
Adverse reactions to flu shots are rare, but Bouchard admits they do happen.
"Largely what we see from people is a sore arm," she said. "We always have a few reports of fever, but nothing untoward or unexpected."
The vaccine will be available until the end of the flu season at the end of March.
The Northern Interior Health Unit at 1444 Edmonton St. offers a flu shot clinic on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., switching to Friday afternoons only, starting in January.
