Halifax-area H1N1 clinics open to high-risk groups
Many parents upset their children are left out
Last Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009 | 3:28 PM AT
CBC News
The first public H1N1 vaccination clinics in the Halifax region opened Monday, with long lines of parents, including many upset with the latest immunization restrictions.
Troy Scott arrived at the Dartmouth Sportsplex at 4 a.m. — more than four hours before that clinic opened. He wanted to guarantee a spot for his 2½-year-old daughter, who fits into the province's revised high-risk category.
'They will have blood on their hands.'—Anne Mahoney, mother of girl, 8
"There are high-risk groups and they should go first," he said.
But many parents are outraged that their children are left out.
Public health officials say there are only enough vaccines for people in four groups: pregnant women, First Nation communities, health-care workers and children between ages six months and 59 months.
The Capital District Health Authority said it doesn't have enough for older siblings or parents.
The restrictions were announced on Friday after the province learned there was a shortage of H1N1 vaccine across Canada. Nova Scotia is getting only 12,000 doses this week, far less than the 50,000 doses expected.
Other health districts in the province launched their mass H1N1 immunization clinics last week, vaccinating people in all categories, although officials urged those at high risk — including people with a chronic medical condition — to go first.
Young children only
By 8 a.m., there was a long queue of about 1,000 parents and children around the Sportsplex. Twelve health-care workers were on hand to give half-shots to each child who qualified.
Anne Mahoney waited outside the Sportsplex for an hour, only to find out her eight-year-old asthmatic daughter will have to wait for the vaccine.
"If something happens to her, I'm blaming Capital Health. This is a total joke. I'm furious. They will have blood on their hands," she said.
Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed, vice-president of the Capital District Health Authority, said there's no need to worry about not getting a shot if you are in the priority groups, even though the district has about 20,000 doses available and there are about 25,000 children under the age of five and about 5,000 pregnant women.
She said children are getting a half-dose each.
"So that 20,000 doses that we have, because of those half-doses for children will actually stretch quite nicely to that entire group," she said.
Patsy Laybolt wants to know what her 15-year-old son will do. Denton has a compromised immune system and has to be given IVs once a week.
Laybolt said her doctor told her to make sure Denton got the H1N1 shot on Monday.
"Now they're saying they don't have it and to go back to my doctor, who's an immunologist for my son and doesn't have the vaccine. So where do these people fit in?" said Laybolt. "If he gets a common cold, he can end up in ICU or dead."
She doesn't know what to do now. There's already a confirmed case of H1N1 at her son's school.
"What do I got to do? Keep my son home until this is cleared up or lose my son," Laybolt said, fighting back tears.
Program mismanaged: parents
Only one of Liza Gabriel's three children qualifies for the H1N1 shot.
"It makes me upset because had we be living in New Brunswick or P.E.I, or Newfoundland every single person in my entire family would be considered part of that high-risk group now and we'd all be vaccinated," she said.
Gabriel arrived at the Sportsplex shortly after 5 a.m. with her children, ages five months, three and five. Under the current rules, only her middle child can get the vaccine. She doesn't know what will happen with her other two children.
"With the shortage, I can't take the chance. Whoever I can get vaccinated, I have to get vaccinated. And if that means standing in a lineup with my three children at 5:30 in the morning … that's what I'm going to have to do," she said.
Gabriel believes the H1N1 vaccination program was mismanaged from the start.
Michael Webber agrees. Like Gabriel, only one of his children qualifies for the H1N1 shot.
"I find it's a mismanagement. I think my time is just as valuable as anyone else's and I have to come back ... for two other children," said Webber.
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief public health official, said the situation will be reviewed every day.
"If vaccine supply allows, we may go further than what we've said. As I said, this is going to be a judgment … on a daily basis, and I fully appreciate there are other risk groups that we are currently not able to immunize," said Strang.
The IWK Health Centre in Halifax held two clinics for pregnant women last week and began to vaccinate its staff.
Nova Scotians looking for information about H1N1 vaccination clinics in their area can call the province's 811 toll-free health line, or check the Health Department's web page.
There are two flu assessment centres open in the Capital District to ease the burden on busy emergency rooms. The clinics at the Halifax Forum on Almon Street and at 202 Brownlow Avenue in Dartmouth's Burnside industrial park are open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Anyone with severe flu symptoms is urged to call 911 or go to the hospital.
