Faster lines as flu clinics reopen for children
Four more H1N1 deaths in Alberta bring total to 18
Last Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 | 6:46 PM MT
CBC News
A young girl cries in anticipation of an H1N1 shot at the Olympic Oval on Thursday morning. (CBC) Cartoons, coffee and hot chocolate welcomed people at the Stampede grounds where young children were vaccinated against swine flu, but long waits greeted those at Calgary's other clinics.
Calgary's six H1N1 vaccination clinics opened Thursday morning, but only for children six months old to under five years. Proof of age, such as a birth certificate or health card, must be shown.
The clinics reopened the same day the province announced four more H1N1-related deaths — one an adult Calgarian — bringing the toll since April to 18.
More people are also being hospitalized due to the virus — 439 people so far with the median age of 30. Most of the people who have died or been hospitalized had underlying conditions.
No waiting at Stampede Grandstand
At the Stampede Grandstand early Thursday afternoon, there were about two dozen nurses with no one to vaccinate. The clinic has 100 vaccination stations, and children are being given numbered wristbands to hold their spots in line.
"It's really night and day at this new vaccination clinic compared to last week when thousands of Calgarians waited in line outside for up to six hours to try and get this H1N1 vaccination shot," said CBC News reporter Erin Collins earlier in the day.
"Organizers here have even provided free coffee and hot chocolate and planned to open a concession stand later today if people get hungry. To top it all off they have even tuned the TVs here to a cartoon channel."
Health officials were aiming for one-hour waits for the vaccine.
But at the Brentwood Village Mall clinic, the line at 10 a.m. was much longer and wound outside, with as many as 500 people and a wait of two or three hours.
At the nearby Olympic Oval on the University of Calgary campus, parents faced a 30-minute wait before they were given wristbands and told to return in the afternoon.
"It's moving actually pretty quickly to get your number to come back at a pre-determined time," said Realeen Giles, who brought along her two young boys.
"They said come back at 12:30, and you just proceed to where the nurses are that are doing the injections. You shouldn't have a very long wait because there is a controlled number [of people] … coming at that pre-determined time."
Parents and children lined up inside and outside the Brentwood Village Mall for an H1N1 shot Thursday morning. (CBC)Lineups were also long at Avenida Village and the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre.
Last week, the clinics were open to any Albertan who wanted a swine flu shot, which targets the strain of H1N1 influenza A virus responsible for the current pandemic. But the clinics were closed by Sunday, and Alberta Health Services blamed a vaccine shortage and overwhelmed health-care workers.
On Friday, the clinics will be expanded to include pregnant women, who will be able to get a non-boosted version of the vaccine. They won't be asked to prove they are pregnant.
Vaccination of both groups will continue through the weekend and pregnant women and young children will not be turned away as other groups, such as those with chronic illnesses, are added to the eligibility list.
Clinics for health-care workers
Besides young children and pregnant women, health-care workers are once again eligible to get the H1N1 flu shot.
Last week, people who work with Alberta Health Services were being vaccinated as in hospitals, but as supply dwindled, those shots were also called off. Vaccination in hospitals resumed for health-care workers on Wednesday, but only those who work on the front lines with patients, including community doctors and their staff.
"When we get more vaccine, we will move to a second phase for health-care workers, which would involve those that are not having that direct face-to-face contact or the hands-on care of the first group," said deputy medical officer Judy MacDonald.
More than 27,000 Calgary health-care workers have been vaccinated.
