Some health-care workers take offence to Hinshaw's online vaccination call-out
Alberta's top doctor is facing heat from health-care workers after calling on those eligible for vaccines to sign up for thousands of open appointments to get the shot over the weekend.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, issued the call on Twitter on Thursday evening, saying only about 800 out of more than 16,000 slots for immunization on Saturday and Sunday had been filled.
“Front-line health care workers across this province have been pushing relentlessly for months to get to this point. If you are an eligible health care worker, please do not delay — check your email and book your appointment as soon as possible,” Hinshaw tweeted.
But doctors, nurses and other front-line workers stressed they were eager to receive vaccines at the earliest opportunity, but hadn't received the communications necessary to book their spots.
“Dr. Hinshaw's messaging, saying they're so well-scheduled and there's not many people booking, it's wrong,” Dr. Anmol Kapoor told Postmedia on Friday. “No one has contacted us. We've been reaching out to them.”
Kapoor is a cardiologist with a northeast Calgary practice. He said it was frustrating to see the messaging from Hinshaw when he and many of his colleagues have been pushing to be inoculated for weeks. He said he has not received instructions for booking, or any information on when he may be vaccinated.
“I would happily go right now to get it done,” Kapoor said. “It really is frustrating … We're not getting any information.”
He added the province needs to do more to reach health-care workers who aren't employed by Alberta Health Services.
Another doctor, a Calgary neurologist, said he thought Hinshaw's tweet misrepresented health-care workers.
“(It) has the connotation to the general public that health-care workers are hesitant to get the vaccine, which is not the case at all,” said the doctor, who requested anonymity due to concerns about professional consequences.
“We all want to get vaccinated and feel safe, protected. We just needed to be granted the ability to do so, which many of my colleagues are still struggling with.”
Meanwhile, dozens of doctors aired their frustrations on Twitter, saying they wanted to be vaccinated but were awaiting emails or had already booked appointments at future dates before the weekend time slots were available.
Hinshaw said on Twitter Friday she was aware of concerns surrounding the call-out, saying AHS is pushing to fill appointments when they become available, which is often unpredictably due to the uncertainty of vaccine supply.
“AHS experienced a technical issue with its online booking tool for a short period last night, but it's now been fixed,” Hinshaw said. “I know that's frustrating and thanks for your patience.”
Dr. Laura Mcdougall, Alberta's senior medical officer of health, said Friday afternoon there were still “a few” appointments left over the weekend, saying they were filling up quickly.
The new vaccination spots opened only a day after Alberta reported nearly running out of COVID-19 vaccine, forcing cancellations of some appointments.
On Wednesday, AHS said some health zones in the province had run out of vaccine, with Hinshaw predicting vaccine shortages would be a persistent problem over the coming weeks.
The provincial health authority said Friday Alberta was in need of more shipments to avoid running out of doses.
Health-care workers were initially allowed to book within a three-week window, resulting in a high number of open appointments on the weekend.
Through the end of day Thursday, Alberta had administered 74,110 doses of vaccine, meaning about one in every 60 Albertans have received their first dose.
The province said it has not received reports of significant numbers of health-care workers opting out of immunizations.