Communications on inoculations for workers `abysmal'
Most front-line staff do not know when they will be eligible to receive first dose
COVID-19 vaccines are trickling into Saskatchewan, bringing relief to health-care workers who have spent 10 months on the front lines of the pandemic.
But the arrival of the desperately needed shot also raises tough questions: Who gets it first, and how will they know when it's their turn?
Some health-care workers say confusion persists about the sequence of delivery for the limited initial doses.
“This is where the anxiety and the angst has blossomed from,” said Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory.
“This vaccine has been their light at the end of the tunnel, and they're waiting for it,” she said. “It's the biggest tool in the tool box to keep them safe.”
Saskatchewan's vaccine prioritization is based on national guidelines. The first doses are bound for at-risk groups like health care workers.
Some of them — like ICU staff — are right at the front.
Others, like homecare staff or laboratory technicians who work with COVID -19 samples, are up for the earlier part of Phase 2, tentatively slated for April.
Zambory said most members have no idea when they'll be eligible for vaccination, or who they can even ask in order to plan it out. She argues that it's not just a matter of vaccine scarcity but “abysmal” communication.
“There seems to be no consistency on how we are rolling out vaccinations,” Zambory said.
SEIU-WEST president Barb Cape said many of her members are also in the dark.
“That message might be well-developed at the senior leadership levels, but it's certainly not trickling down to front-line staff,” Cape said.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Some health-care workers are also advocating to be placed higher in the sequence, arguing that their jobs put them at high risk. Cape said homecare workers, for example, are worried that they'll get the vaccine later than their counterparts in B.C. and Alberta.
“When you look at the work being done in the field in home care, it really is a high-risk area,” Cape said.
They're not the only ones clamouring for vaccines. In recent weeks teachers, police officers and funeral home workers have all said they would like to be priority groups.
One has succeeded. Saskatchewan's paramedics were initially placed in a later part of the sequence, but were moved higher after they made their case to the government.
Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan president Kelly Prime said that reflects of their chaotic, high-risk job.
“We are working with the sickest of the sick, but we are working in an unpredictable and an unknown environment because we are working in the community, not a facility,” Prime said.
There's no easy answer to who should get the vaccine first, but he hopes distribution focuses on getting doses to the most at-risk first, he added.