I want to encourage everyone to get their flu shots. I do research on flu and have a lot of respect for the disease...it kills a few thousand Canadians every year.

But to put in perspective the challenge we face, the infection fatality ratio for COVID is around 100 x that for flu. The seasonally juiced R for COVID is likely to be higher due to greater susceptibility (will it move back to 2.5? Flu& #39;s R is usually around 1.5).

By all means, get your flu shot and your pneumococcal vaccine too if you& #39;re in a recommended age group.

But this year, these threats are on profoundly different levels. That& #39;s chilling to those of us who work in healthcare and know what a bad flu year looks like...logjam.

Full hospitals, full ICU.

I guess the fact that health authorities are pushing flu vaccine right now is laudable, as it& #39;s something we can do. But again, if COVID spins out of control, flu deaths will be decimal point error.