It's flu season; time to get immunized.
Flu vaccine clinics will open on Oct. 15, Alberta Health Services (AHS) officials say.
It's free, and will be provided to Albertans six months of age and older.
And there's good reason to get it.
AHS officials say during the 2017-18 flu season, 92 deaths were confirmed to have involved influenza.
Ten lab-confirmed cases of flu were reported in Alberta between Aug. 26 and Sept. 22 this year.
AHS recommends that children under nine years old who are getting an influenza vaccine for the first time get two doses of the vaccine.
Although the anti-vaxxers still resist that idea, evidence indicates that flu shots actually do protect us -- at least to some degree -- from getting influenza (flu) and some protection is still better than none.
"The vaccine lowers your risk of getting influenza by about half," an AHS fact sheet says. "The influenza vaccine can keep you from getting influenza, makes influenza less severe if you do get it, and keeps you from spreading influenza to your family and others."
Flu can be especially risky for seniors, young children, pregnant women and those who have existing health conditions.
Flu viruses are constantly changing and there are many circulating throughout the world each year.
In advance of each flu season, scientists do their best to protect against it by developing vaccines against the three or four strains most likely to cause sickness.
Because they mutate, and because we're all different, the flu shot may not work in all cases. But it does work in most.
"Even when the vaccine does not exactly match the viruses going around, it can still give some protection," AHS says.
And that's the bottom line.
After all, it doesn't cost a dime. And it's worth it to keep ourselves and those we love -- safe.
