Seasonal Influenza 2020-2021 Recommendations in the Context of COVID-19

Introduction

Learn about this year’s recommendations for the prevention and treatment of seasonal influenza, the use of antivirals, the recommended vaccinations, and infection and prevention control measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission at the time of flu vaccine administration.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Resources

Event Description

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Monday, September 21, 2020 12:00 – 2:00pm (EDT)

Speakers – Dr. Ian Gemmill, Dr. Robyn Harrison, and Dr. Gerald Evans, infectious disease experts – with an interactive Q&A after the presentation.

Learn about this year’s recommendations for the prevention and treatment of seasonal influenza, the use of antivirals, the recommended vaccinations, and infection and prevention control measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission at the time of flu vaccine administration.

This event provided frontline healthcare practitioners and public health vaccine providers with:

  • An overview of the epidemiology of recent influenza seasons
  • The information they need to support their practice during the 2020-21 influenza season
  • An opportunity to pose questions to infectious disease experts

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session.

Access Instructions

This webinar was in English. A French transcript will be available on NCCID’s website after the event.

Speakers

Dr. Ian Gemmill

Has 38 years of experience in public health in Ontario. He is the former Medical Officer of Health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, where he served from 1997 until his retirement in 2017. He is the past chair of NACI and was a member for over 14 years. He is the past chair of NACI’s influenza working group. He is a member of the World Health Organization’s Immunization Practices Advisory Committee and is the liaison member to its Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.

Dr. Gemmill is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Public Health & Preventive Medicine, an honorary member of the Canadian Paediatric Society, an Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Public Health Association and a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Dr. Gerald Evans

Is the Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University and an attending Infectious Diseases physician at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital in Kingston, Ontario.

Dr. Evans has been Medical Director of Infection Prevention & Control (IPAC) at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Providence Care Hospital since 2011. He is a consultant IPAC physician with Public Health Ontario, an Affiliate Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto with the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). He is a member of the AMMI Canada Influenza Working Group, which has authored a number of guidelines on the management of influenza. He was the President of AMMI Canada from 2009-2011 and is now the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Association of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada.

Dr. Robyn Harrison

Works as an Adult Infectious Disease Specialist in Edmonton, Alberta; and Clinical Professor at the University of Alberta. She also works as a Communicable Disease Consultant for the province-wide Alberta Health Services Workplace Health and Safety Program (a position she has held since 2009). Dr. Harrison is keenly interested in policy development and support for clinicians to prevent infection transmission in healthcare settings.

She is a member of the Alberta Advisory Committee on Immunization, and she participates in infection prevention working groups in the province of Alberta, including past work on pandemic influenza H1N1 in 2009, and avian influenza is 2014.

At a national level, she collaborates with the Public Health Agency of Canada as a member of the Prevention and Control of Occupational Infections in Health Care Settings Guideline Working Group; and High Consequence Pathogen Task Group. She is also a member of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI); incoming Chair for the NACI Influenza Working Group; and member of the NACI High Consequence Infectious Disease working group. Dr. Harrison obtained her medical degree at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia; and she completed her Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases subspecialty training at the University of Alberta. Most recently she completed a combined Public Health and Epidemiology MSc degree through the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in England (2015).