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The flu shot goes a long way to prevent the flu, in addition to other preventive behaviours like washing your hands, covering your cough/sneeze and staying home if you’re sick.

Dealing with the flu season goes beyond the flu shot. Many don’t see the preparations that are in place to help Ontario deal with a particularly severe flu season.

Surveillance and monitoring of the magnitude of the flu season and sharing this information is key to ensure responsiveness. For example, weekly teleconferences are scheduled to share information about the circulating influenza strains and severity. Antiviral medications are provided to those who are most vulnerable, including people in long-term care homes and hospitals when they get the flu or are in an outbreak. Ventilators are stockpiled and made available for hospitals that run out of machines that keep the critically ill breathing. Organizations such as TeleHealth provide alternatives to going to the ER for those who want timely advice from a health-care professional. These are just some of the things that are in place to help the health-care system deal with influenza.

Over the past several years, only about one third of Ontarians have gotten the flu shot. If our goal is to reduce the impact of influenza on emergency rooms and reduce hallway health care, we all need to do our part and get the shot.

Dr. David Williams is Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

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