Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
H1N1 Vaccination Clinics Overwhelmed by Crowds in Canada
Share:
by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | November 1, 2009 at 05:41 am
996 views | 50 Recommendations | 20 comments
Photos
H1N1 Clinics have been overwhelmed across the country this week. The vaccine was approved by Health Canada a week ago and clinics jumped into action.
In some cases, people waited up to eight hours just to be turned away as clinics closed for the day. It would appear that this is another example of incompetence in planning and executing a plan.
Priorities were set to vaccinate the most vulnerable,
- People under 65 with chronic health conditions
- Pregnant women
- Children 6 months to less than 5 years of age
- People living in remote and isolated settings or communities
- Health care workers involved in pandemic response or the delivery of essential health care services
- Household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines
- Populations otherwise identified as high risk
When it came to execution there was a lack of organization and control. Health Canada announced a delay in delivery for vaccinations next week, since the manufacturer had to retool to produce the vaccine for pregnant women. This caused a rush to clinics yesterday with many being turned away.
In one case a clinic was being conducted at an Olympic training venue in Calgary, increasing the risk to athletes preparing for the Vancouver Olympics.
Alberta Health and Wellness has canceled all its clinics for next week and is now planning to vaccinate high priority groups.
With the flu already spreading across the country and particularly across Alberta, will the flu be administered in time. It takes two weeks for this vaccine to become effective protection after it is administered.
Many flu clinics across the country had to close early Saturday as thousands of Canadians joined long lineups to get the H1N1 vaccine.
People lined up for hours as clinics were overwhelmed by the demand, forcing some to be turned away. Some people may have rushed to get their shot following the announcement earlier in the week that supplies would diminish next week.
Most clinics in Edmonton closed their lineups at about 12:30 p.m. local time, turning away new arrivals. All five clinics in Calgary stopped accepting patients by about 9 a.m. Some people had arrived as early as 4 a.m.
Alberta health officials later announced that the clinics have been suspended immediately because of a national reduction in the number of available vaccine doses. Officials said they will roll out a plan early next week for targeted H1N1 vaccinations, focusing only on those at the greatest risk.
Advertisement
NowPublic on Facebook
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Most Recommended Comment
Crowd Power
Sudha Krishna
Vancouver, Canada
Most Recommended Stories in World
Recommendations (50)
a211423
Clearlake, California, United Statesmarianmo
Mission, Canada
Uwe Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
Susan Marie Kovalinsky
Ledgewood, New Jersey, United States
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Pat Garcia
La Paz, Mexico
Mary Richard
Toronto, Canada
Rory Cripps
New Port Richey, Florida, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (20)
at 06:44 on November 1st, 2009
Japan is only vaccinating Medical workers and Pregnant woman.
at 06:49 on November 1st, 2009
Supposedly there are vaccines for everyone here. The problem as I see it, is that they did not enforce their priorities. The media has people so paranoid about this flu, which can be serious and has killed some healthy people. From what I gather from most medical experts is that it is actually milder than the seasonal flu.
I think people don.t know what to believe anymore.
at 10:06 on November 1st, 2009
Japan does have a shortage of vaccines, the official reason is that all vaccines have been bough out by the US and the EU and that the suppliers have trouble meeting the high demand world wide.
I am not sure what to think of it all. But I do believe that the hype is some what blown out of proportion.
at 06:54 on November 1st, 2009
someone is making big bucks off this debacle
at 09:49 on November 1st, 2009
at 09:58 on November 1st, 2009
the tab for the 50 million plus vaccines is 400 million, add on to that the cost of advertising, distribution, and personnel to deliver the vaccines i think you can get a sense of the cost to canada........not saying one life isnt worth this amount but who is making money on this pandemic....we are just a small country...wonder what the cost is in the states for example
at 10:12 on November 1st, 2009
The cost of the vaccine and distribution is only the start. The there are the special clinics being set up and wages for health care workers and in some cases rental of facilities.
In Alberta Doctors will be paid $225 an hour if the pandemic reaches the crisis stage.
Many schools have already been shut down in the Edmonton area. No one is testing for H1N1 anymore. They just advice people to stay home and go for medical assistance if the symptons resemble swine flu to get people started on Tami Flu.
The list for cost goes on and on. I don't know how much of this extra expense is covered by Health Canada.
at 10:14 on November 1st, 2009
feds picking up 60 % of vaccine cost rest i assume by the provinces
at 10:17 on November 1st, 2009
That will require further work by our Australian health guru to cut the 1 Billion Dollar Health Deficit that already exists.
at 10:18 on November 1st, 2009
lol
at 12:15 on November 1st, 2009
Wow! This is disturbing!
at 13:03 on November 1st, 2009
It's been quite overwhelming here in Ontario as well, as this is Canada's largest ever mass immunization campaign. The Ministry of Health are urging the healthy to wait their turn, and it could be Christmas before everyone that wants a shot can get it.
They are advising you to call your Doctor's office before going to a clinic, as some Doctors have now received the vaccine.
For the week of November 2nd, only those from the priority group will be given shots at clinics in Ontario, as there are lesser supplies available this week. They will be turning people away if you are not in that group.
These are the priority groups in Canada:
Source: phac-aspc.gc.ca
at 13:16 on November 1st, 2009
I just watched a press conference with the Ontario Ministry of Health. It seems a lot of information is still up in the air. There seems to be no clear cut way of what will be done with people that show up in the above priority groups. The link below provides information on the H1N1 program in Ontario.
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/
at 15:49 on November 2nd, 2009
this vaccine is terrible the worlds end times are coming and its getting so wicked as stated in the bible god will be back to rapture all the saved and innocent people then the antichrist will come and the world will be more wicked than it has ever been. this antichrist is going to claim he is god and for everyone who dissappeared they will be in heaven with god, the rest will have a chance to be saved if they dont die from things going on in the world. god is going to destroy everything and there will be nothing and no one left, get saved before its too late. psalms 91 is a good flu shot read it! this is from the minister of health in finnland watch it before it gets taken down, god predicted all of this would happen and its happening right before our eyes. he said the signs to the end coming is the world getting wicked, massive weather change, etc. Read your bibles you WILL see, this is all happening now and i pray for all the unsaved to be saved. dont be one of the 2/3 of the world to die from this wicked shot they are infecting you with!!!
at 13:24 on November 1st, 2009
according to the canadian press , health officialsadidnt anticipate so many wanting the swine flu vaccination...according to health officials more than 1700 people have been hospitalized with 05 canadians killed
at 13:45 on November 1st, 2009
6
at 13:48 on November 1st, 2009
This site is a survey site of deaths attributed to H1N1:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/h1n1/surveillance-eng.php
at 03:59 on November 2nd, 2009
Watching the moronic coverage on the CBC, it is no wonder people are ill informed. And it looks like Canada's health system has not learned any lessons from the SARS debacle. Organising a mass immunization is what the health system is supposed to be good at. It is it's raison d'etre. Canada has some woeful media that do nothing to inform the public. Check out coverage on the BBC if you want a more balanced view of things. If you want hysterical, chicken little retards, then watch Canadian media.
at 04:09 on November 2nd, 2009
Thanks for your comments Iffy, your points are appropriate, the CBC did cause hysteria and has not helped to inform the public.
BBC Coverage here
at 09:38 on November 2nd, 2009
I think H1N1 will be the burning funeral pyre for the CBC: Canadians will see how crap it is in the age of the internet and that its so-called media professionals are not up to international standards. It is time the CBC was merged into the BBC.