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Last fall, hospitals were overflowing with children suffering from respiratory diseases ranging from flu and colds to COVID.

Over-the-counter children’s pain medication started running low in August and almost disappeared by late November. Production of those medications were ramped up and Health Canada said shortages won’t re-occur this year.

What’s not yet known is whether this year’s influenza season will be as severe as in 2022.

READ MORE: Pharmacists ask parents not to stockpile as shortage of kids pain meds continues

“Usually what happens in the northern hemisphere mimics what happened in the last respiratory season in the southern hemisphere,” Dr. Fatemeh Sabet, a medical health officer with Interior Health, told iNFOnews.ca.

“What has happened this year is there was an earlier respiratory season with higher rates of influenza and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) infections and a more prominent season compared to the years before the pandemic. It is hard to predict but we will also likely have a prominent respiratory season.”

That’s why invitations started rolling out today, Oct. 4, for health-care workers to book their COVID booster shots, which can be taken at the same time as influenza vaccinations. People with weakened immune systems will be contacted next, then the elderly.

Within a month, all eligible Interior Health residents should have their invitation to book their vaccinations. Anyone over the age of six months who hasn't had a vaccination in the past six months is eligible.

Shots will start being administered on Oct. 10.

Last year, hospitalizations of mostly very young and older people started ramping up in late October and continued through into December.

While the latest strains of COVID are nowhere near as deadly as during the height of the pandemic, they can still be serious and deadly.

“We know that people continue to get hospitalized, to suffer severe infections, and we know that vaccines are highly effective in reducing the severer outcomes specifically hospitalizations and ICU visits,” Dr. Sabet said.

READ MORE: Kelowna neo-natal ICU at capacity with children sick with respiratory illnesses

For some, this will be their sixth COVID vaccination.

Only 31% of Interior Health residents received a fourth injection, according to BC Centre for Disease Control data.

The number getting their fifth and subsequent shots is no longer being tracked because it’s more important to ensure that people get boosters every six month, Dr. Sabet said.

The other way to avoid respiratory illness is to avoid going out if sick, washing your hands frequently and covering your cough.

Those who are registered with the BC Centre for Disease Control will get notified when they're eligible to schedule their vaccinations. Anyone who is not registered can do so online here or phone 1-833-838-2323.

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