GUELPH – Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) was the first health unit in Ontario to administer the H5N1 vaccine to humans in the fight against avian influenza.
Avian influenza is a disease that affects birds and, while rare, it can be transferred to humans.
The vaccine helps humans, especially those working with birds, avoid contracting the disease.
There is a global outbreak of the avian influenza (HPA1 and H5N1) right now that includes infections in wild birds, poultry and other mammals across Canada, the United States and many other countries, manager of vaccine preventable diseases Karen Mulvey told the board of health at its Dec. 3 meeting.
In the United States, transmission among dairy cattle has been reported since March 2024.
As well that year, 61 human cases were confirmed in the United States, primarily among dairy and poultry workers, with only one severe case reported.
Canada reported a single case in 2024, where the source of exposure remains unknown, but the virus subtype was the same as strains found in wild birds.
Because the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College is nearby and because there are so many farms in the area, WDGPH decided to get the vaccine and administer the program.
Mulvey said public health received a list of 54 organizations with potentially eligible people and sent the word about vaccine clinics.
WDGPH developed an online intake system and could accommodate people from outside the region whose own health units were not giving the vaccine.
Mulvey said the vaccine was administered to 29 people – 24 from outside the region, among them veterinarians, researchers, lab technicians and wildlife workers.
