An article published in the Journal on Feb. 8 documented a downward trend in Canadian flu vaccinations, which showed a 10 per cent decrease this season.

The article included an interview with Dr. Gerald Anthony Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s, who suggested that the lowered vaccination rate may be due to “flu fatigue,” which refers to a disinterest in vaccination after the H1N1 pandemic which occurred last year—prompting a spike in vaccination rates.

Evans also pointed to a host of misconceptions surrounding the flu which contribute to a disinterest in vaccination.

For one, the flu vaccine is produced with an inactive virus—so the vaccine can’t give you the flu.

Getting vaccinated doesn’t protect you against every possible iteration of the flu—only the most dominant strains that year.

However, the influenza virus is made up of thousands of strains and getting vaccinated annually significantly increases an individual’s resistance to the flu as a whole.

While the flu isn’t a serious health risk for a healthy individual, it’s dangerous for individuals with weak immune systems, including the elderly and newborn children. Getting vaccinated doesn’t just protect you; it also protects those around you.

Having few available hosts in the population makes it harder for the flu to spread. Everyone should view the flu as a public health issue and treat getting vaccinated as a social responsibility.

It’s likely that health services need to radically adjust their approach to disseminating this information, given the tendency among young people to avoid getting vaccinated. Roughly one in four Canadians gets vaccinated for the flu each year, and Evans said that the rate on campus is even lower.

Health services need to aggressively target young people via the Internet and social media—areas that are currently neglected. Without reaching out to youth directly using a medium they’re already using, indifference and misinformation concerning the flu vaccine will only continue.

Ideally, no one would need to be convinced to get the flu shot. Unless a medical expert advises you otherwise, there’s no reason to avoid getting vaccinated annually.