Children are dying from flu. Some provinces are slow to report it — and these experts say that’s dangerous – CBC

Influenza deaths among Canadian kids running higher this year than in typical flu season

Dec 18, 2022

With influenza sending Canadian children to hospital at rates far above normal for this time of year, there are calls for provincial health systems to be more transparent about pediatric flu deaths.

Influenza rarely kills children in Canada. Over the past decade, there have never been more than 13 deaths in a year from the flu among those age 19 or younger, and the pre-pandemic yearly average was nine, according to Public Health Agency of Canada figures.

Yet only a few weeks into this flu season, 11 deaths have already been reported among children and teens across the country, according to research by CBC News.

The provinces have not made it easy to find out how many kids have died from flu this year.

Earlier this month, British Columbia announced publicly that the flu had killed at least five children in November, but only after the details of an internal conversation involving hospital officials was leaked to a media outlet earlier this month.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/child-influenza-deaths-1.6687187