We’re winding down the wintery phase of the flu, COVID and RSV season, but there are still good reasons to get your shots now if you haven’t already.
In an extensive Healthcare Survey conducted in January 2025 by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), a vast majority (85%) of the more than 4,400 respondents agreed expert-recommended vaccines are safe and a further number (90%) recognized that vaccinations are important to seniors’ health.
But there is a disconnect with how many people, knowing the safety and efficacy of vaccines, get the shots to protect themselves from serious illness.
Take for example how three-quarters of survey respondents (76%) knew that a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine was recommended for them but only 22.5% had received it in the previous two years.
That uptake number was a little higher for pneumococcal disease, with 45% of survey respondents having gotten those shots.
Whether for COVID, RSV or pneumococcal disease, getting a vaccine should be a no-brainer, especially for older adults, who are at greater risk of serious impacts of respiratory illnesses.
And here’s one sobering statistic: In Canada, pneumonia and influenza are the eighth leading cause of death.
While every province and territory currently offers free pneumococcal vaccination for adults aged 65 and older, most don’t provide the newest approved vaccines. This is concerning given that there are pneumococcal vaccines specifically designed for older adults which offer broader protection.
Canada can do better. CARP believes provincial governments need to step up and invest to make the latest pneumococcal vaccines available to all older Canadians
Help us make sure this happens.
You can fill out this form (https://www.carp.ca/2024/03/21/older-canadians-deserve-access-to-the-best-and-newest-vaccines/) and send a personalized letter to your provincial health minister asking for action.
Together, we can make a difference and ensure that older Canadians get the best possible protection against pneumococcal disease – and all preventable illnesses.
Aside from the devastation getting seriously sick can cause to individuals and families, it also represents a massive strain on the health system. To put things in perspective, one study of Ontario health records found nearly 700,000 cases of community-acquired pneumonia over a three-year period, with each hospitalization costing over $12,500. Even those who didn’t need hospitalization cost the system an average of almost $1,600.
This should make prevention of illness through effective rates of adult vaccination important to both individuals and governments, and it’s why CARP takes a strong advocacy position on the need for free vaccine programs to every age group that experts recommend.
