Alberta flu deaths spike to highest number seen in province in past 15 years

Alberta is seeing a huge spike in flu deaths, with 167 people dying over the past winter.

That's the most flu-related deaths in our province in the past fifteen years.

Experts say the numbers are alarming, especially since immunization rates are so low.

Twenty-five per cent of Albertans received their flu shots this past season – a decrease of three per cent from the previous year.

Experts say it's part of a broader trend of vaccine distrust and division that makes it harder to reach people.

"We're seeing a rise in measles cases and hesitancy around measles vaccines. We're seeing a general kind of hesitancy emerge for other kinds of basic vaccination policy, so this is part of a broader, worrying trend that is very, very frustrating," said Tim Caulfield with the University of Alberta's School of Public Health.

Caulfield says misinformation and vaccine hesitancy even extend to pet vaccines.