Medical advice on how to best protect yourself against the flu, COVID and other infectious diseases – CTV
October 30, 2025
Dominique Ritter writes about technology for MaRS. CTVNews.ca has partnered with MaRS to highlight Canadian innovations in health care.
Each autumn, in tandem with the changing leaves and the onset of sweater weather, there is a surge in seasonal illnesses. A host of factors — children returning to school and spending time in close quarters, less ventilation and exposure to dry HVAC-circulated air as temperatures drop, the effects of weather fluctuations on immune systems — lead to more cases of the flu, COVID-19 and the common cold. This fall, in addition to the usual suspects, measles, one of the most contagious infectious diseases, is spreading in Canada.
A number of circumstances — including issues around accessibility, growing hesitancy and vaccine fatigue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — are contributing to a decline in vaccination rates in Canada. Despite recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization that anyone six months of age and over receive the COVID-19 vaccine, only 3.9 per cent of the population did so last year, creating a greater risk to the population this fall and winter.
