Wildcats GM backtracks on H1N1 story
Last Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 | 10:33 AM AT
CBC News
Bill Schurman, the GM of the Moncton Wildcats, says the players from his major junior hockey team received H1N1 shots at a public clinic. Earlier this week, Schurman said team doctor gave the players the vaccine. (CBC)The Moncton Wildcats general manager now claims his junior hockey team's players lined up at a public clinic to receive their H1N1 vaccinations, only days after saying the team's medical staff offered the shots.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League cancelled the Wildcats' games this week after two players developed swine flu and several other members exhibited similar symptoms.
That announcement came on Wednesday as general manager Bill Schurman backtracked on how his team actually received the vaccinations.
"We did go to a clinic that was open to the public. We did go en masse," Schurman said on Wednesday.
"We certainly went with the majority of our players being under 18. And at the time that we went, the majority of the lines, the majority of the clinics, were vaccinating anybody that went with someone that was of the risk group."
However, he told a different story when he was first asked how the major junior team received its vaccinations as many New Brunswick people in the priority groups for the shot were either waiting in long queues or being turned away.
"Well, really, we ordered it. There's nothing else I can say other than we as an organization, we're responsible for these players and they're very active, and high profile and we have our own medical staff," he said on Monday.
When asked which public clinic the team members went to, Schurman said he wasn't supposed to say.
He said they received their shots on Friday. However, all public clinics in the Moncton area were cancelled that morning.
When defending the early vaccination on Monday, Schurman also said the hockey club was being proactive for ordering the vaccination.
"We're not apologizing for that. Actually, it's something that the organization is very proud of," he said.
Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health, said a doctor had given the hockey players the vaccine.
"We have followed up with that physician who is now aware of the priority groupings," she said.
Calgary backlash
The Wildcats are not the only Canadian hockey team on the defensive over how their players received the vaccines while other citizens have been forced to wait.
The NHL's Calgary Flames had a special clinic open last week so some players and their families could avoid waiting in the lineups at the public clinics.
Alberta Health Services launched a probe into how the NHL team received the special treatment, which resulted in the firing of a staff member.
Top officials with Alberta Health Services said they did not know about the arrangements for the Flames organization until Monday.
"The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment on the part of the staff involved," said Stephen Duckett, president and CEO of the board, in the statement.
"The special treatment … is unacceptable to us and contrary to all of our existing protocols and processes. I apologize for this breach of our duty to Albertans."
The Flames and their doctors requested the vaccination for their members from Alberta Health Services last week based on information available to them at the time, said team president Ken King on Tuesday.
The team would not have chosen to get the shot had they known there would be a vaccine shortage, King added.
