There has been similar advice in the past for those working in poultry farms.
Dr. Susan Detmer, an associate professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, said we saw a lot less of the pandemic strain of H1N1 that had circulated among humans in pigs, but the lifting of restrictions has resulted a resumption in people transmitting the infection to pigs.
Restrictions imposed in 2020 to slow the spread of COVID also slowed the transmission of influenza.
I'm hoping that everyone who is eligible will go out and get their vaccine, whether or not they work with pigs. But I'd like to see people who are working with pigs get that vaccine to keep that pandemic H1N1 virus from going back and forth between pigs.
COVID-19 restrictions reduced H1N1 virus from passing back and forth between people and hogs, however, we do expect that there will be more circulation of influenza in people this year, just because people are moving around more but it will all depend on how much people do start to go back to interacting in social situations and at work, she said.
