October 28, 2025 (Ottawa): As Canada enters another respiratory virus season, pharmacists are urging Canadians to protect themselves and their communities as new polling shows vaccination intentions remain low.
According to a new national survey conducted by Abacus Data for the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), 43% of Canadians plan to get their seasonal flu shot, and 29% intend to receive a COVID-19 vaccine this fall. Most concerning, nearly 4 in 10 Canadians (39%) say they don’t plan to get either vaccine.
“Based on our national survey, the number of Canadians with plans to get vaccinated against both flu and COVID-19 is lower than we’d like to see heading into this season,” said Sadaf Faisal, Director of Professional Affairs, CPhA. “Pharmacists are concerned that too many people may forgo vaccination and leave themselves vulnerable as respiratory viruses start to circulate.”
Lingering complacency as virus season begins
While it’s too early to predict how severe the season will be, respiratory infections are already circulating across Canada, including influenza, COVID-19 and RSV.
Low vaccine intentions in CPhA’s recent polling point to lingering complacency that may be discouraging some Canadians from getting vaccinated. Pharmacists and other health experts continue to emphasize the importance of vaccination—particularly for older adults, children, pregnant individuals and those with underlying health conditions—as the best protection against serious illness and hospitalization.
Affordability could become a barrier
With some provinces moving away from fully publicly funded COVID-19 vaccination programs and introducing fees for people outside of high-risk eligibility groups, pharmacists are concerned that cost could discourage Canadians from getting vaccinated and widen protection gaps.
National polling supports these concerns: more than three-quarters (77%) of Canadians said they would be unlikely to get a COVID-19 vaccine if required to pay about $100 for it. This highlights the importance of maintaining publicly funded and easily accessible vaccination programs to ensure broad protection across the population.