Flu shots got off to a bumpy start in B.C. this week with confusion about the province’s new registration system, and computer and phone glitches.
For the first time in B.C., influenza immunizations are available for free to anyone six months of age and older, administered in about 1,300 pharmacies, health-authority clinics and some primary-care providers’ offices.
They have been available for those 65 and older and others at higher risk of severe illness or complications since Oct. 3.
The rollout in Victoria and Vancouver quickly proved chaotic — some who hadn’t registered or booked appointments were able to get flu shots from pharmacies, while others reported they were turned away and told to register on the GetVaccinated website.
Some were told to await invitations from the province to book a flu shot, while others who had booking invitations were unable to book an appointment via the GetVaccinated.gov.bc.ca website or on the phone.
Family physician Dr. Anna Wolak, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of British Columbia, said when she tried to get her own family into a nearby pharmacy for a flu shot, she was told to wait for an invitation from the province.
She said it’s baffling that at a time when the province is trying to encourage more people to get vaccinated in anticipation of a spike in flu cases, people would be asked to register for the shot “when such a requirement has never existed” in the past.
“Everyone is confused now,” Wolak said in an interview Wednesday. “Today I’ve gotten so much confusion about when people can book the flu shot, or where they can go to get the flu shots.”
The Health Ministry said that while people are encouraged to register for their flu shots through the GetVaccinated website, walk-in appointments continue to be available at many pharmacies throughout the province.
“Rest assured, if you show up to a COVID-19 booster appointment at a pharmacy, and if the pharmacy has available influenza vaccine stock, they can offer it to you,” the ministry said in a statement.
While some pharmacies in Vancouver and Victoria took walk-ins on Wednesday, Wolak said she hadn’t found a pharmacy doing so in her neighbourhood.
Public-health officials look to the influenza season in the southern hemisphere — where the season started earlier and infection rates were higher than in 2020 and 2021 — to help anticipate the severity of the season in the northern hemisphere.
Australia reported in August that it was seeing its worst flu season in five years and cases are already growing in the United States. Other respiratory diseases are also expected to spike this fall, in part because people who haven’t been exposed to the flu for at least two years during the pandemic are expected to have less immunity.
The influenza virus mutates, requiring a new vaccine strain composition each year, based on annual recommendations from the World Health Organization.
Those who want to get their COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot in a single appointment can book through the government’s GetVaccinated or by calling 1-833-838-2323 any day of the week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
However, one glitch in the provincial registration system is that users cannot book a COVID shot on one day and schedule a flu shot for another day of the week. Instead, the system requires that the user receive one vaccination first before being able to book a second.
In some cases on Tuesday and Wednesday, users were unable to see a checkbox to book an influenza vaccine.
“Our ImmunizeBC team is making real-time updates to ensure this doesn’t continue to happen,” the Health Ministry said in a statement, apologizing for the errors and asking users to try the GetVaccinated phone number if they can’t complete their booking online.
“As it’s been with all of our launches of vaccination campaigns, we know some people experience glitches at the beginning,” the ministry said.
Pharmacist Denny Ng, owner of the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy in Esquimalt, said he’s received lots of influenza doses at his Esquimalt pharmacy. “The only problem is a lack of labour on our end — we just don’t have the full manpower like we had years back.”
Pharmacists are giving COVID-19 shots as well as flu shots. Ng said walk-ins are welcome but he is advising people to register through the provincial website to get a flu shot because when the pharmacy is too busy, he’ll have to turn people away.
Ng offers those who come in for COVID-19 shots the chance to get their flu shot at the same time.
It may make for a little more painful arm the next day, but “eight out of 10 say yes” for the convenience, he said.
B.C. plans to distribute about 1.8 million doses of influenza vaccine for the 2022-23 influenza season, including about 660,000 doses of enhanced influenza vaccine for seniors.
