Ont.'s supply of H1N1 vaccine dwindling
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 2:20 PM ET
The Canadian Press
Ontario will run out of the adjuvanted form of the swine flu vaccine by the end of the week, according to Health Minister Deb Matthews.
Some local health units could run out of the H1N1 shot earlier than others, Matthews said, but the province overall will likely be out of the vaccine by the end of the week.
The vaccine targets the strain of H1N1 influenza A virus responsible for the current swine flu pandemic. The adjuvanted form contains an additive that aims to improve the efficacy of the vaccine by boosting the immune system.
Matthews, who wouldn't specify a date for when the vaccine will run out, said there is still plenty of the non-adjuvanted form of the vaccine, which does not include the additive and is intended primarily for pregnant women.
About 200,000 more doses of the adjuvanted vaccine are expected to arrive next week.
Matthews came under fire in the legislature Wednesday from opposition parties, who accused the governing Liberals of bungling the vaccine rollout, which resulted in long lineups at clinics last week.
The minister said while there have been problems in delivering the vaccine, Ontario is still on track to have more than two million people immunized by the end of the week.
She denied that the vaccination plan has been a failure, even though Ontario won't be able to meet the target set out in its original pandemic plan — to have everyone immunized within four weeks.
Toronto's rollout was "unacceptable," but wait times at clinics across the province have improved, Matthews said.
She also suggested that the province might add school-age children to the list of priority groups once the supply of the vaccine increases.
Matthews disputed reports that aboriginal reserves in northern Ontario haven't received enough vaccine.
The province shipped an "over-supply" of the vaccine to reserves, she said, despite reports from one native leader that his 49 communities have only received half of the vaccine supply they were promised.
