Vaccine likely to run out Friday.
New flu-care clinic in Edmonton to help those who get H1N1
Alberta expects to run out of the flu vaccine by Friday, but isn’t reserving the last of it supply to the most at risk of severe illness since people had ample time to get protection, say health authorities.
Alberta Health managed to purchase the last 65,000 doses left on the planet from an Italian manufacturer. They are currently being shipped to public health centres and mass immunization clinics for easier distribution, with pharmacies and doctors’ offices urged to use up any supplies they have left.
Even so, the province estimates it has another 80,000 to 100,000 shots left to vaccinate people against three flu strains, including the hugely prevalent H1N1 which has killed nine people this season and hospitalized 354 Albertans as of Tuesday, 83 of whom needed intensive care.
If all doses are used, approximately 28 per cent of Albertans will have received the shot well before the peak of the flu season, which is expected to hit in late January or early February. That’s between 1.1 million and 1.2 million people with flu protection, although everyone who had the H1N1 flu in the past two years are also immune. Small studies also suggest those who received the vaccination in the 2009 pandemic year, when an adjuvant was added to the shot, may have some prolonged protection.
“The bottom line is that this is a normal flu season and we have more Albertans protected than we’ve ever protected before, with the exception of the year that the pandemic stream got all the news,” said Dr. John Talbot, chief medical officer of health for the Health Department.
After supplies dry up, it will be up to Albertans to protect themselves further by washing their hands after being out in public and before eating, and staying home from work or school if they’re sick, Talbot said.
Those who suspect they do have the flu will also be asked to go to a new flu-care clinic opening in Edmonton on Friday at the old Woodcroft Health Centre at 13221 115 Ave. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day to try to divert sick people away from hospital emergencies.
In Edmonton as of Jan. 7, 101 people have been hospitalized with H1N1, and 27 needed intensive care.
“I’m sorry for the people who had to wait in line,” Talbot said. “I’m sorry for the people who’ve been disappointed, (who) won’t be able to get the vaccine, but I look forward to many more years of increasing that (vaccination) number, hopefully with one dose left at the end of the year.”
In previous years, some doses went to waste since not all were used, Health Minister Fred Horne said. This year, the province spent $7.8 million to buy 1.2 million doses, or about five per cent more than last year.
Since Jan. 2, 150,000 Albertans bared their arms to get the shot after news of extreme illness in the province and several flu-related deaths.
“Having all those flu shots in a million arms across the province puts us in a very good position as we move into the peak period of the flu,” Horne said. “Albertans reacted at exactly the right time. I thank them for doing the right thing and in terms of our approach to this, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Organizations that represent pharmacists and doctors in private practice are currently polling their members to see how many doses are available in the community.
Talbot cautioned against panic, since the number of deaths this year is similar to last. In 2009, 72 people died from H1N1-related illness, but that’s far below what marks a pandemic, which kills five to 10 times that number, Talbot said.
“Flu for most people is a disease they can handle on their own,” Talbot said, noting only a small percentage of younger, middle-aged adults tend to get even sicker than seniors with H1N1. “This is a universal campaign and if you feel like getting the vaccine, then you should get the vaccine. I’m just warning people this late in the campaign — a campaign that started Oct. 21 — the amount of vaccine left is finite and it’s likely to run out by the end of this week.”