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Premier Doug Ford says his best advice for getting through the holiday season is to get a flu shot.
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The presence of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 are circulating in Ontario and filling pediatric intensive care beds.
“Go out and get your flu shot,” Ford said Monday, when asked about getting through the season. “This is the most important”.
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Ontario doesn’t release flu vaccination data until the end of the season, but before the pandemic it was about 30%.
“In 2020-21, usage increased above 30%, but dropped back to about 30% for the 2021/22 season,” said a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health.
Ontario offers a free flu shot to residents six months and older.
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NDP Interim Leader Peter Tabuns and NDP Health Critic France Gelinas on Monday called on the Ford government to bring back the Ontario legislature to address the health crisis, noting that the Air Ambulance in Ornge has reported a significant increase in patients under the age of 18 with more than 544. children transported between October 1 and December 2.
“Doug Ford should not shut down the legislature when seriously ill children are being transported across the province in search of an empty ICU bed,” Tabuns said in a statement. “It’s scary to have a sick child and no hospital nearby with the capacity to help, and it would be unthinkable to let the government not respond to this crisis for weeks and months over the winter as viruses circulate.”
aartuso@postmedia.com