Updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines available in N.B. next week

Updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines will be available to New Brunswickers aged six months and older, starting Oct. 15, the Department of Health announced Tuesday.

People can book an appointmentnow through the government's website or by contacting a participating pharmacy.

While Public Health encourages everyone to get vaccinated, it "strongly recommends" peoplewho are at high risk of complications get both shots.

"The COVID-19 and influenza vaccines will help reduce the risk of severe illness this fall and winter,"Dr. Yves Lger, acting chief medical officer of health, said in a statement. It is safe to get both vaccines at the same time, he said.

COVID-19 has killed at least two more New Brunswickers, both aged 65 or older, according to the latest Respiratory Watch report, which covers Sept. 22 to 28.

Fifty-one people were hospitalized for or with the virus during the reporting week, three of whom required intensive care, and there were 150 new cases of COVID confirmed, more than half of them in health Zone 1, the Moncton region.

New Brunswick has also recorded its first two lab-confirmed flu cases of the respiratory seasonboth influenza A (unsubtyped), and both in the Moncton region, the report shows.

The updated COVID-19 vaccine, recently approved by Health Canada, targets the circulating KP.2 subvariant of Omicron.

TheNational Advisory Committee on Immunization, orNACI, strongly recommendsthe updated COVID-19 vaccinefor adults 65 orolder, people who livein long-term care and other group settings, people with underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk of severe illness, people from Indigenous and racialized communities, those who are pregnant, andpeople who provide essential community services.

A nasal spray influenza vaccine called FluMist is availablefor children aged two to 17, who want to avoid traditional needles. To determine if a child is eligible, parents or guardians should contact their primary care provider, local Public Health office or community pharmacy, the department said.

New Brunswickers aged 65 or older are also encouraged to get the one-dose pneumococcal vaccine toprotectagainst the bacteria that can cause serious and life-threatening infections, such as pneumonia and meningitis.Pneumococcal infections are one of the leading causes of illness, hospitalization and death worldwide, according to the release.

Few reactions to previous XBB.1.5 vaccine

In New Brunswick, of the roughly 160,000 previous COVID-19 vaccines administered between last fall and this summer,targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, 12 reactionswere reported, according to the Department of Health.

Only two were considered "serious" or one in about 80,000 shots.

An event is considered "serious" if it results in death, is life-threatening, requires hospitalization, results in persistent or significant disability/incapacity,results in a congenital anomaly/birth defect, or is "medically important" and requires intervention to prevent one of the previously listedoutcomes, said Health Canada spokespersonCharlaineSleiman.

"It is important to note that just because an adverse event happened after a vaccine was given, it does not mean that the adverse event was related to or caused by the vaccine," she said.

Across Canada, of the more than 4.4 million doses ofPfizer'sComirnatyXBB.1.5 vaccine administered as of June 30, there were 349 adverse eventsreported, 84 of them serious.

Of the more than 3.7 million doses of theModernaSpikevaxXBB.1.5 vaccinesadministered nationally during the same period,428 adverse reactionswere reported, 63 of them serious.

And of the more than 5,000 doses ofNovavax'sNuvaxovidXBB.1.5 vaccine administered, five adverse reactions were reported, one of which was considered serious.

Combined, that works out to about one serious adverse event for every 55,000 doses administered.