How is B.C.’s respiratory illness season shaping up this year?

British Columbia·CBC ExplainsB.C. is several weeks into its vaccination campaign for fall illnesses and early numbers are suggesting a quicker uptake this year than last.Early indications show an increase in British Columbians getting their shots compared to 2024CBC News · Posted: Nov 16, 2025 8:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Fall vaccination efforts are underway in B.C. (wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock)Maybe you sense it in the sniffles of your family. Or the absences at work. Or the concerning coughs on the bus. It’s respiratory illness season.B.C. is several weeks into its vaccination campaign for fall illnesses and early numbers are suggesting a quicker uptake this year than last.Here’s what you need to know. What vaccines can you get this fall?B.C.’s Ministry of Health says all residents aged six months and older can get flu and COVID-19 vaccines free of charge. Notifications by text and email have been sent out to people registered in the provincial Get Vaccinated system.RSV vaccines are also available, but generally aren’t free. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) says the First Nations Health Authority covers the cost for eligible pregnant people, otherwise the shot costs about $300.What are health experts aiming for? Dr. Brian Conway with the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre says, in general, the goal of a vaccination program for seasonal diseases like the flu or COVID-19 is to get to a place where the number of cases are fewer than half of what would be expected in unvaccinated people. “If we get 75 per cent of high-risk populations and 50 per cent of the general population vaccinated, we generally achieve those benchmarks if there is no vaccine mismatch with the strains in the community,” Conway said.Are cases going up?The BCCDC’s latest weekly summary, covering Nov. 2-8, describes COVID-19 activity as moderate and influenza and RSV activity as low compared to past seasons.Conversely, it also reports the flu and RSV beginning to increase with COVID-19 activity decreasing.WATCH | Health officials recommend vaccines:B.C. health officials ask residents to get vaccinated against flu, COVID-19As flu season approaches, the province is unveiling its rollout for COVID-19 and flu vaccines. Health officials are encouraging people across B.C. to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. As Michelle Ghoussoub reports, they’re also warning of increasing misinformation about the safety of vaccines. “The proportions of emergency department and primary care visits for respiratory illness have increased over recent weeks, but trends are comparable to the same period of the prior season,” the BCCDC’s summary notes.How does B.C. plan for flu season?A key aspect for planning B.C.’s fall and winter vaccinations is the experience in Australia as their seasons, like other Southern Hemisphere locales, are opposite to those of Canada.That also means their flu season happens before ours and Canadians get the benefit of seeing what strains are circulating and what vaccines are needed to counteract it.Conway says the Australian experience with flu was “very concerning” this year, with a record high numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.“Their vaccination rates — which have been decreasing year over year — went down even lower to record low levels,” Conway said.What’s the latest data on vaccine safety?Conway stressed that severe reactions to vaccines are extremely rare but do happen. He estimated that serious neurologic conditions occur in about one in every half-million doses.At the same time, he added, the odds of becoming seriously ill from a respiratory disease, or passing it on to a more vulnerable person, are much higher.Dr. Jia Hu, the BCCDC’s interim medical director of immunization programs and vaccine preventable disease services, agreed there are sometimes adverse reactions to vaccines but added that health experts pool data from billions of doses worldwide to track for any trends or essential problems with a vaccine.“On balance, vaccine benefits far, far outweigh anything with respect to any concerns we have about their safety,” Hu said.How many people have gotten vaccinated?Vaccine uptake so far this year is a bit higher than in 2024.As of Nov. 9, 967,759 British Columbians had received the flu vaccine, up by about 26,000 from 2024, and 739,348 had gotten a COVID-19 shot, up about 55,000 from last year.