Years after the virus that causes COVID-19 kicked off a global pandemic, it’s still sending thousands of Canadians into hospital each year alongside other respiratory infections — despite a suite of vaccines that can slash someone’s risk of serious illness.
Striking new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases more than doubled in 2024 compared to pre-pandemic levels, all while vaccination rates are backsliding.
There were 142 hospitalizations for every 100,000 Canadians that year, the data shows, up from roughly 66 per 100,000 in 2019.
Yet seasonal vaccination uptake for both COVID and flu shots has dropped.
Federal figures suggest only 26 per cent of Canadian adults were vaccinated for COVID in 2024 — a dramatic drop from when shots were first rolled out mid-pandemic and lineups at vaccination clinics often spanned multiple city blocks.
I keep nagging my hospitals for COVID and flu vaccines in Sweden and these keep denying me for not being in a risk group and it being off season.
it’s been four years since i last got a vaccine against COVID, more!
edit: i’ve had shortness of breath and stiff joints & headaches migraines with slight disorientation since two weeks back and constant respiratory pains since four days back. i’m 26 and fit. i literally went to the emergency room with this and they went “well nothing’s physically wrong” and the care center goes “COVID is over, there are no vaccines anymore”
fucking help. herbs guide me