H1N1 clinics to reopen to priority groups
Details of how clinics will operate are due Tuesday
Last Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009 | 6:39 PM MT
CBC News
Albertans will have to prove they belong to priority groups to get their H1N1 vaccinations when the province's clinics reopen.
A vaccine shortage forced Alberta to abruptly suspend its clinics Saturday. Health-care workers were also overwhelmed, Stephen Duckett, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, said Monday.
Hours-long lineups clogged Calgary's five clinics last week. Alberta did not limit the vaccination to high-risk groups, including pregnant women, young children, people under 65 with chronic health conditions, as other provinces did.
Duckett said that when clinics reopen, they will initially only serve priority groups. Those people wanting the H1N1 shot will have to show ID to prove their age, and prescription drug containers to establish chronic health conditions. Details of the clinics reopening will be released Tuesday.
About 190,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine remain in Alberta, he said. Provinces are receiving more shipments next week, but final numbers have not yet been confirmed.
Manufacturers are slowing down deliveries to focus on producing adjuvant-free doses for pregnant women.
"During the next two weeks, we will refocus our efforts on vaccinating only those at high risk. And over the next two months, as our vaccine supply increases, we will fulfil our obligation to vaccinate all Albertans that so choose," Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said in the legislature on Monday.
Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert, left, Dr. Andre Corriveau, the chief medical officer of health, centre, and Premier Ed Stelmach meet on Monday. (Government of Alberta) "That is a commitment that this government has made and it will stand by."
Liepert has come under fire for Alberta's H1N1 immunization program, with Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann calling for the minister's resignation or dismissal on Sunday.
Liepert did not say much to reporters after he was summoned to a meeting with the premier and chief health officer on Monday morning.
He said Premier Ed Stelmach was simply looking for an update.
Official explains rollout
Duckett apologized again on Monday for the long lineups at clinics in the past week but said he would change little if given the chance. The clinics were initially intended for only high-risk groups, but when the general population began showing up in the lineups, health workers couldn't do impromptu screenings, he said.
'How do you tell whether someone has a chronic condition, in the open air, with no privacy, at the start of a huge lineup?'— Stephen Duckett, Alberta Health Services
"How would you assess people who didn't come with evidence that they had a chronic condition? How do you tell whether someone has a chronic condition, in the open air, with no privacy, at the start of a huge lineup?"
Not screening everyone also allowed the lines to move more quickly and avoided confrontations between health-care workers and the people accompanying a high-risk friend or relative who were also seeking the shot, he added.
Calgary Liberal MLA Dave Taylor dismissed Duckett's explanation.
"If privacy issues were a concern, why not make vaccines available to family doctors in their general practices to inoculate their own patients?" Taylor asked.
14 H1N1-related deaths in Alberta
Duckett said he's pleased 372,000 Albertans have been inoculated so far.
Dr. André Corriveau, Alberta's chief health officer, said no one died of the swine flu on the weekend, but 24 more people were hospitalized.
So far, 14 people have died in Alberta after contracting swine flu and nearly 300 people have been hospitalized.
Over the course of a normal flu season, one in 10 adults and one in three children will catch the flu.
Health Canada says between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians — mostly seniors — die from pneumonia related to flu and many others may die from other serious complications of flu.
With files from Brooks Decillia, John Spittal and The Canadian Press
