Flu shots are in high demand this season as COVID-19 continues to spread in Toronto, and many residents have struggled to get one despite the provincial government's roll-out of what Premier Ford called "the largest flu shot campaign in Canada's history" to try to reduce flu-related hospitalizations amid the second wave. 

To address this issue, a Toronto startup created a flu shot locator that shows a map of all clinics and pharmacies offering the vaccine within a specific area. 

"There are many articles about the difficulty finding pharmacies and clinics with flu shots," Ryan Doherty of Empower Health told blogTO. 

Empower Health is a startup based out of the University of Toronto, and they build different websites to help Canadians access healthcare. 

Their latest creation is called myflushot.ca, and it not only allows Canadians across the country to see a map with all locations administering flu shots within a designated area, it also allows for advanced searches to see which places are offering specific types of flu shots (such as high dose) and who has them in stock.

To use the resource, Toronto residents simply have to go to the website and choose whether they're looking for a pharmacy, community flu shot clinic, drive-through flu shot clinic, medical walk-in flu shot clinic, family doctor, public health office, travel vaccine clinic or all of the above. 

Residents can then indicate where they're looking for a flu shot by inputting an address, postal code, city or organization. 

The website also includes a feature that allows people to sign up to receive an email when flu shots become available at a specific location, and it allows residents to book a flu shot appointment online. 

According to statistics from the Canadian government, it's estimated that influenza causes roughly 12,200 hospital stays and 3,500 deaths within the country in any given year. 

Health officials are therefore strongly advising people to get a flu shot this year in order to avoid overloading the healthcare system as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge in Toronto, throughout Ontario and beyond.