Alberta closes flu shot clinics as it rethinks H1N1 immunization plans

[blacknail]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Alberta+closes+shot+clinics+rethinks+H1N1+immunization+plans/2166251/story.html

Too long to post here, but essentially the idea to vaccinate all didn't work so they are closing the clinics to focus on high risk groups like they should have in the beginning because they ran out of vaccine.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Alberta closes flu shot clinics as it rethinks H1N1 immunization plans

Thank you Blacknail

Alberta closes flu shot clinics as it rethinks H1N1 immunization plans


By Jason Fekete, Sarah McGinnis, Colette Derworiz with files from Tony Seskus and Dan Healing, And Canwest News ServiceOctober 31, 2009Comments (89)


Sheila Spencer and her son Jesse were waiting to get in at the Brentwood clinic in Calgary for their H1N1 shots on Saturday . Even before the clinics opened the lineups were closed due to the demand.


Sheila Spencer and her son Jesse were waiting to get in at the Brentwood clinic in Calgary for their H1N1 shots on Saturday . Even before the clinics opened the lineups were closed due to the demand.
Photograph by: Lorraine Hjalte, Calgary Herald

CALGARY- The Alberta government is closing all H1N1 flu shot clinics province-wide until further notice due to an anticipated shortage of the vaccine.

The move affects Calgary’s five mass flu shot clinics, although immunization for high-risk patients will resume early next week. There will be no clinics Sunday.

Once the clinics reopen, they will only provide vaccinations to pregnant women, children between six months and five years old, people under 65 with chronic health conditions, those living in remote communities, and health care workers.

The change comes after thousands of Calgarians were turned away from the city clinics today for the second day in a row -- some even being asked to leave before the clinics had opened their doors.

Alberta Health Services officials said in a news release that demand for the H1N1 vaccine during the first week of the campaign was "tremendous," with more than 300,000 Albertans receiving the shot. However, they said they cannot continue to meet the demand with the expected reduction in the vaccine shipment next week.

As a result, the province will now focus on the most vulnerable with the vaccine they have on hand.

Further details of the plan going forward will be released Monday, the release suggested.

All five clinics in Calgary began turning people away between 8:30 and 9:15 a.m. today.

Around 9:15 a.m., police notified hundreds of people waiting outside the gate of the Whitehorn flu clinic that they would not be getting the shot today.

The decision to turn people away stunned those in line, some of whom said they'd arrived as early as 6 a.m. in order to get immunized.

"I am very scared," said taxi driver Resham Sidhu, a father of three young children. "I drive a cab and I have contact with a lot of people, and then I if catch something, I contact people. Then I come back home and (put my children) at risk, too."

Val Alvarez, who was turned away for a second time this week, is frustrated that she hasn't been able to get the shots for her two children.

"They are at the age that where they are saying kids are a priority," she said. "Well, they're not a priority if they're telling us to go home."

Judy and Jerry Nolin, near the back of a line that went all the way around the Avenida Village mall and almost out to Macleod Trail, were engaged in a lively debate at 8 a.m., with Judy optimistic she would get a shot and Jerry just as convinced they wouldn’t.

“We’re going away, plus I have asthma and bronchial problems, so I’m in a high-risk category,” said Judy. “I have to fly so I want to get it before I go away.”

“What I see is total disorganization,” said Jerry, who had to park several blocks away because the mall lot was full. “It should be doctors that are dispensing these vaccinations. If they’re going to say high risk they should define high-risk and let those people in first.”

“They could make a lot of money because I would pay to get it done.”

It turns out Jerry was right.

“Two times they told us we were fine and the end of the line was way behind us,” Judy said when reached at home at about 2 p.m. “We waited five hours and then they said, sorry, not today.”

At Brentwood Village mall clinic, Jesse Spencer lined up at 5:30 a.m. with his 54-year-old mother Shiela Spencer, who said she’s very ill with hepatitus C.

“The big concern that nobody’s addressed is the bathroom situation,” said Jesse. “If you have somebody here with problems with their kidneys, there are no porta-potties set up anywhere. There were several hours where we were waiting and there’s nothing open here.”

Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert pleaded Friday for flu-wary Albertans not to panic, despite another local virus-related death and word the province will likely run out of H1N1 vaccine by next week and be forced to close some innoculation clinics.

He appealed for only high-risk Albertans -- children aged six months to five years, pregnant women, people with chronic illnesses and health-care workers -- to go to flu clinics to be vaccinated, while asking the rest of the public to wait a week or two.

"Don't panic," Liepert told the Herald editorial board on Friday. "The biggest risk we run is the fear of running out of supply."

Liepert's public plea for healthy Albertans to be patient, however, has opposition politicians arguing the government is delivering mixed messages on a critical public health issue, given Premier Ed Stelmach's recent call for everyone to get the H1N1 vaccination.

The health minister's message, however, doesn't seem to be resonating with all Calgarians.

The city's five vaccination clinics began turning people away by noon Friday because they were overwhelmed with thousands of patients, many who waited outdoors for five or six hours.

Health officials also confirmed Friday that a Calgary-area adult man is the 14th Albertan to die from the H1N1 flu, while 258 people have been hospitalized across the province (including 108 in the Calgary region).

The minister's appeal also coincided with word that about 400,000 new doses of the H1N1 vaccine will be shipped out next week to the entire country -- far less than the millions federal officials were hoping for. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones warned Friday that provinces next week may "have more capacity in their clinics to deliver than the vaccine that's there."

In Alberta, the government is going through about 50,000 doses a day.

"We will probably run out of vaccine by next week," he said, noting such a scenario would likely force the province to close vaccination clinics for two or three days. "By late next week, we're done."

It would likely take "days, not weeks" to get a fresh batch from the federal government, he added.

Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann, in Calgary on Friday, assailed the government for botching the rollout of the vaccination program.

The province can't be blamed for the limited supply of the vaccine, but should have been more prepared in how it administers it to Albertans, believing there should have been a greater focus on initially vaccinating high-risk Albertans.

The public has received a "very mixed message" from the premier and health minister, he argued.

"Clearly this government hasn't planned and doesn't know how to deliver health care in this province," said Swann, a former medical officer of health fired by the Tory government. "They need to get their act together. They don't talk from the same page. They don't understand the issues."

Indeed, frustration continues to mount among Calgarians who are being turned away from vaccination clinics.

The Richmond Road Diagnostic Treatment Centre stopped taking new patients at 9:50 a.m.--80 minutes after opening -- with an estimated 3,000 people waiting in line for vaccinations.

At the Avenida Village mall, a line in the thousands snaked all the way around the edge of the outdoor mall and onto the street.

"We've been three places, this is our third," said Michelle Gillespie, as she was turned away from the Richmond Road clinic. "We're not sure what we'll do. I think we'll just pack it in, I guess."

Gillespie has three children-- ages five, seven and nine--who have respiratory issues and need to get the vaccine, noting she and her husband took the day off for vaccinations.

"I guess we'll go home and one of us will get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and go camp out somewhere and get a spot in line," she said.

Caroline Purdy-Bracko, another young mom, was taking her son for his flu shot, while her daughter went to the newly opened flu assessment clinic with her grandmother to get checked because she was sick.

"You start to have one who is sick and you think maybe we better get in there," she said. Purdy-Bracko said they were going to keep trying other clinics--including possibly taking a drive out to Cochrane or returning again another day.

"We can't go anywhere," she said. "I'm not really surprised. I am disappointed."

Cindy MacGrath tried to take her children to two separate clinics -- the Olympic Oval and the former children's hospital locations -- and was turned away from both.

"It's horrible," she said. "I think Alberta was the only one that said anybody can go, so of course everybody is all freaked out."

Liepert, meanwhile, said "Albertans are not getting the message" about prioritizing vulnerable patients for the vaccines.

However, he maintained the government is not going into "Soviet Union mode" where they will have people in lineups prove they're in the highrisk category.

The minister acknowledged the government probably should have opened more clinics targeting the most vulnerable-- like at the Olympic Oval--at the outset of the program.

"Could we have done things better? Absolutely. I'm not going to sit here and say it was perfect," he said.

Bruce Foster, chair of the policy studies department at Mount Royal University, said public anger over the vaccination rollout is "one more punch in the gut" for the embattled Stelmach government.

"There's a virtual chaos of messages," Foster said. "Most people are thinking everybody should get it and that's the message from (Stelmach). Everybody is taking him at his word."

[AlaskaDenise]

Vaccine clinics shut down until further notice

The province has shut down all H1N1 vaccine clinics for at least a day in the wake of shortages across the country, health officials announced Saturday.

The clinics are expected to reopen Monday or early Tuesday with a new, strict screening process in place to weed out those who aren't in the high risk group, said Dr. Gerry Predy, medical officer of health for the province.

"We're asking people to be calm. There will be more vaccine. There will be enough for everyone who wants it," he said.

There were no details available Saturday on how people will be screened at clinics. Predy said officials will be working throughout the weekend, looking at provinces that have had screening in place, to come up with a plan.

When clinics opened last Monday, Predy told reporters officials were asking only high-risk people ? including pregnant women, children six months to less than five years old, people under 65 with chronic health problems, people living in remote communities and health care workers ? to get the shot rather than screening because it would eat up too much time, snarling long lines even further.

"In retrospect, we still think it was the right thing to do given the information we had," Predy said.

Over 300,000 Albertans have been vaccinated in just a week with a supply of over 600,000 doses, he added. But with an expected reduced shipment coming next week, the province decided to revamp their approach.

"We still have enough vaccine to carry through with the (high risk-only) vaccination campaign," Predy said.

Meanwhile, critics charged the province dropped the ball by not screening for those most in need of H1N1 shots right off the bat.

After a week of long lines and confusion over who should be eligible for the vaccine in the first days of the campaign, the move to limit flu shots to only at-risk groups has Liberal leader David Swann demanding answers.

"They failed to prioritize the most in need: the vulnerable people at risk of serious illness and death and they need to answer for that," said Swann, who spent the day visiting people waiting in line for the shot at the Brentwood clinic in Calgary.

"They opened up the floodgates and that was inappropriate."

Swann said the province has been working on its pandemic plan for a decade and one of its main tenets was to identify and treat those most at risk of contracting a virus first before targeting the general population.

Instead, the province opened mass immunization centres, relying on the goodwill of Albertans to stay home unless they fit the profile outlined for those most at risk of succumbing to the virus, which so far has been responsible for 14 deaths in Alberta.

"They need to let the health professionals take over and get the funding they need to get all the proper resources in place to do this right," Swann said.

David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said the province didn't clearly communicate its plans and now people most in need of the vaccine are paying the price.

"My main concern is how they chose to get the message out there about who should get that shot," he said.

"The government seems to be contradicting Alberta Health Services and saying everybody should get the shot when obviously there are a number of high-risk people who should be the priority."

http://www.fortsaskatchewanrecord.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2156355