N.B. sticks with seasonal flu shot

New Brunswick will push ahead with a vaccination program for the seasonal flu, starting next week, says the province's deputy chief medical health officer.

This, despite recent research that suggests people who received flu shots in the past two years could be at greater risk for gettingthe H1N1 virus, or swine flu.

Dr. Paul Van Buynder said Thursday that thefindings are very preliminary and don't back other, similar studies.

"These studies have been intensively studied on an international basis," Van Buynder said. "Studies in the United States, in Australia and in Europe have failed to show the same associations seen in the Quebec work."

New Brunswick will have two vaccination programs this year one for seasonal flu and one for swine flu, Van Buynder said.

The province has also bumped up its schedule for seasonal flu shots.

"We have moved all of our seasonal campaigns forward," Van Buynder said. "We already have vaccine leaving the warehouse, going to our hospitals, going to our family practitioners. And it will be there in all of the sites by next week."

Normally, the seasonal vaccination program is offered in November, but Van Buynder hopes to see it completed by mid-October.

He wants to avoid any confusion about which shot is being administered once the swine flu vaccine program begins in November, he said.

Bucks trend

Other public health authoritiesin Canadaare considering shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccinationprograms in favour of mass inoculation against the swine flu.

That's because the swine flumay be the dominant strain of influenza circulating when the fall flu season hits,so it could be a waste of time and resources to mount a seasonal flu vaccine campaign.

Some provinces are also concerned about the data New Brunswick has dismissed suggesting the seasonal flu shot may put people at greater risk for swine flu.

Ontario announced Thursday it will offer the seasonal flu shot next month to the elderly only, then try toinoculate all residents against theswine fluvirus starting as early as November.

Seniors are most at risk for complications from seasonal flu, while younger people are more at risk for complications from H1N1 flu, provincial officials said in a news release.

In October, the seasonal flu vaccine will be offered to New Brunswickers 65 and older and to residents in long-term care homes. The swine flu vaccine program will be rolled out in November. Then the seasonal flu vaccine will be offered again in December and January to everyone six months of age and older.