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Posted: 10/31/2009 4:00:38 PM | Alberta closing clinics until further notice
October 31, 2009 4:52 PM
The Alberta government is closing all H1N1 flu shot clinics province-wide until further notice, the Herald has learned.
The move affects Calgary’s five mass flu shot clinics, including one designated for pregnant women, young children and the elderly.
It 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.
Alberta Health Services will be holding a news conference at 5 p.m. today to discuss the measures.
More details will follow.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 6:05:20 PM | 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."
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 6:36:23 PM | | I went to the SE clinic this morning. Anyone who didn't start lining up by about seven thirty got turned away, and that's after a lot of people gave up before they reached the head of the line. Many people were saving spots for their friends and relatives, and that made it hard for the clinic to estimate where the cutoff would be, so throughout the day, they went along and moved up the cutoff point. People who were told at eleven AM that they would make it in were told at 2 PM that they weren't going to make the cut. When a nurse came around to tell people that they wouldn't make it in, two policemen went with her. No one got aggressive, but a lot of people were dissatisfied and frustrated. The real problem was that the whole thing wasn't organized for a fair and orderly distribution of the vaccine. Now that they are starting over, maybe they'll put a bit of thought into how to fix the problems. | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 6:46:01 PM | Did they actually run out of vaccine or did they finally realize that there won't be a pandemic or both? If you trust the government to protect you, think again!!! | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 6:57:34 PM | | for those who want some protection and cant get the h1ni vaccine.. try natural alternatives to boost your immune system.. it is better than nothing...go to any local health food store...oregano oil will help alot but ask for assistance | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 6:59:40 PM | ^^^
There already is a pandemic, as far as I am concerned. People are dying.
As for trusting the government, I honestly think that the government can't win this battle, no matter how it approaches it. I'll tell you one thing, I don't envy Leona Aglukkaq right about now. | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 7:06:28 PM | | This has become the epitome of ridiculous-IMHO!!! | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 7:21:27 PM | There already is a pandemic, as far as I am concerned.
In the technical term of pandemic, then yes it would be. But I suspect a whole bunch of people think pandemic = death.
Sitting, eating today, I was reading the newspaper and noticed that in Alberta 14 people had died & 30 people in Ontario had died. As a percentage of the population, that's incredibly small. I constantly keep reading about people who know someones kid that died, etc (facebook feeds, twitter, etc) yet..only 14 people have died from this flu in Alberta so I can't help but wonder if some of this isn't an urban myth.
I'm NOT trying to minimize the impact of this flu, but when I think of pandemic, I think of typhus. I think of TB. I think of Smallpox. I think of Cholera. These diseases WIPED out swaths of the human race. There are some native cultures that went extinct because of stuff like smallpox. Measles killed nearly 800 000 in 2000.
Let's put things into perspective. | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 7:24:00 PM | | Dare I say that I agree whole heartedly with the previous poster?! | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 8:06:33 PM | There already is a pandemic, as far as I am concerned. People are dying. Hundreds of people die from cold's and flu's every year, this is no different. There is no pandemic happening, just paranoid people....and you can probably thank the media for that or the pharmaceutical companies!!! | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 8:33:10 PM |
Hundreds of people die from cold's and flu's every year, this is no different. There is no pandemic happening, just paranoid people....and you can probably thank the media for that or the pharmaceutical companies!!!
That is so true.
World wide, there still have not been as many deaths due to H1N1 as there are deaths annually due to regular flu in North America alone.
As for pharmaceutical companies ........ Anyone I've ever known who have been connected to "Pharmaceuticals", have recieved excellent remuneration for it. That is a lot of "Middle Men" being paid very well to have you believe you MUST be on something or another at all times through your life. | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 11:50:08 PM | | Sounds more like Pandemonium then a pandemic, right about now....People we depend on run with no facts to support their statements... The evening news gets higher ratings, the papers sell, but someone might drop dead from a heart attack reading there is no more vaccine left.. | |
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Posted: 10/31/2009 11:54:49 PM | | Very well put ^^^! This is no laughing matter and pandemonium is appropriate. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 12:53:58 AM | Less people are dying from it in Alberta than there are murders in the province. Drunk or stoned drivers, knifers, fighters kill a whole lot more than this flu does.
But the murder rates are not a pandemic and the flu is???
Pandemic: –adjective 1. (of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.
2. general; universal: pandemic fear of atomic war. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 10:36:00 AM | There is no pandemic happening, just paranoid people....and you can probably thank the media for that or the pharmaceutical companies!!!
Yep, it's the media's fault. EVERYTHING is the media's fault.... oh wait... everything is either the media's fault, or a frikkin conspiracy. Sheesh.
As for less people dying from it than murders, what the heck does that have to do with anything? That's like saying less people died from cancer on Sept 11 2001 than did in the terrorist bombings that day, so cancer really isn't that serious.
Is it the worst disease that has ever hit the world? Of course not. But comparing it to diseases that wiped out large populations 50-100 years ago is comparing apples to ornages. Compare it to another airborne virus that has killed people recently... you know... like since the invention of the frikkin Frisbee.
Yes, it's true that more people die every year from the more common strains of influenza than the swine flu... but remember, the swine flu has a) not even been around for 6 months yet and b) is only now going into its first "season" . Let's see what the numbers are in March before making that argument.
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Posted: 11/1/2009 11:06:58 AM |
Yep, it's the media's fault. EVERYTHING is the media's fault.... oh wait... everything is either the media's fault, or a frikkin conspiracy. Sheesh.
Nope, a lot of people create their own problems or paranoia because they have their heads up their a$$es  | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 12:15:23 PM | Well, I don't know much, but I know this much.... many of the same people crying "paranoia" and "conspiracy" now are the same ones who will be accusing the government of not having done enough, six months from now.
I also know this: The Swine Flu has already killed nearly 10 times as many people worldwide as SARS.... and that's just in the last eight weeks. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 3:35:58 PM | What stats have to do with it is this.
Social behavior that is becoming more prevalent kills more than a virus that will burn run its own course and become a non-issue within a year.
Yet they are willing to spend crazy amounts of money, create global fear and awareness, dedicate untold media resources and commit scientific research resources to a virus that will run its own course but do very little toward any of the other things that they could do things about to effect in a more drastic, efective and permanent way. Do they? No.
This virus needs awareness but not the media frenzy, not the fear, not the panick it is causing. Look around you, pay attention to where the more severe problems are and how little attention they get compared something that is not nearly as intense a problem as the hype makes it out to be. Yes, it causes illness and sometimes death under the right situations. So does walking on the street and walking on the street have as many deaths related to that from drive by shootings, drunk drivers and fights.
Put things in perspective and stop buying into media hype. Think for yourself rather than letting some spin-doctor tell you what to think.
My brother is returning from a Locum. He's been working as a farmacist on locum in Nunuvit for about four months. The surveying show that over 99% of the population have already had exposure to the H1N1 virus up there. Once you've been exposed, your body developes antibodies. Yet the shot goes on up there. Only good it will do is make people feel better emotionally because of the fear the media promotes. They don't need it, it will not help them. But it is given to appease social concern.
That social concern would be better served in areas where they can do something effective toward improvement, but no... they spend it to calm the masses that media frenzy whipped up by overblowing the concern for something that in reality is low on the list of things you should really be concerned with as a society.
As for the killer effect of the virus, the intense severity that the media is feeding the population, it's all hype. (and used those other examples as things that are killing more people but receive less attention, less hype and so less social awareness and concern)
Have you ever wondered where the dollars to fund the research that is submitted to health canada comes from? The manufacturer. The guy who wants to sell it. Not an independant research group, not the potential buyer. Only the seller.
Would you buy a house, car or other long term commitment item based only on the seller opinion? Or would you need a second opinion to look for the flaws? If you would go for the second opinion rather than blindly trust the seller who's interest is selling, then why would you trust your long term health to something proven only by the seller and that the government (already proven to operate by their own rules, laws be damned) that was sitting on reserves in Ottawa a full week before the approval from the governemtn funded Health Canada gave its approval to the vaccine and openly admitted they "streamlined" the process for this vaccine and ignored their own guidelines. Who do you think made that happen?
I am sorry for using an example that was too abstract for your thinking. It isn't always the best when it comes to trying to demonstrate a point but it is just the way my mind works. Very much an "outside the box" thinker. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 4:01:18 PM | Obviously I alsp am an "outside the box" thinker as your statement makes soooo much sense! | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 4:18:32 PM | This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Health care has become so politicized this was inevitable. Bottom line? Like any other unionized enterprise, health care in Canada is run for the convenience and benefit of the EMPLOYEES, and the clients, the people the system is nominally set up to serve, the ones who pay the bills, are at best an irrelevant and unavoidable inconvenience.
For the government, it's all about cost containment while never admitting that the promise the system is based on simply CAN NOT happen.
For the unions, as always, it's all about maximum pay for minimum work.
For those of us forced to depend on the wonderful Canadian health care system, it's simple. If you need a few stitches and a band-aid, or a prescription, they'll get to you sooner or later. If you need anything beyond that, you're basically screwed, because that's the point the politics kicks in.
We're gradually being turned into a third world country, complete with third world healthcare, in spite of the fact we're paying more than half our income in taxes. Try to remember this when election time comes around.
Having said that, IF... if, if, if, the real idea was to get everyone in Canada vaccinated, this would have been handled completely differently. With a little planning, the H1N1 vaccine could have been gotten out to the walk-in clinics, pharmacies and doctor's offices, and everyone who comes near one gets the shot. Keep as many as humanly possible open 24/7. Difficult logistics? Not really, not considering that somehow booze gets to a million liquor stores in Alberta every day. Not at all, considering that pop and potato chips are delivered to every convenience store in Canada, every single day, not to mention deliveries to restaurants.
The secret is to hire people who know how to distribute refrigerated goods, not count on unionized government fall-downs and butt-covering politicians. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 4:27:20 PM | Yet they are willing to spend crazy amounts of money, create global fear and awareness, dedicate untold media resources and commit scientific research resources to a virus that will run its own course but do very little toward any of the other things that they could do things about to effect in a more drastic, efective and permanent way. Do they? No.
There is no vaccine, pill or any kind of pharmaceutically produced product to cure “stupid”. Or to “make” people exercise common sense. There is no money to be made in curing social ills. Unlike the manufacture of the H1N1 vaccine.
It’s estimated that GlaxoSmithKline will earn about 1.66 BILLION dollars for the sale of the H1N1 vaccine in 2009. They are forecasting similar sales in the first quarter of 2010.
It is estimated that Novartis will earn about 700 MILLION for the sale of the H1N1 vaccine.
It is estimated that Sanofi-Aventis will earn about 500 MILLION for the sale of their H1N1 vaccine.
It is estimated that Roche, which produces Tamiflu, will earn about 2.65 BILLION this year.
These profits are for ONE vaccine. Globally, the vaccine “market” is worth about 20 BILLION dollars. Annually. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 4:35:39 PM |
Social behavior that is becoming more prevalent kills more than a virus that will burn run its own course and become a non-issue within a year.
Yet they are willing to spend crazy amounts of money, create global fear and awareness, dedicate untold media resources and commit scientific research resources to a virus that will run its own course but do very little toward any of the other things that they could do things about to effect in a more drastic, efective and permanent way. Do they? No
What are you talking about? The money spent on the H1N1 virus does not come close to the money spent on trying to control murderers. Take a look at the cost of the average murder trial why don't you? Then multiply it by what.... 15,000 per year (estimated number of murders in North America), add the 200,000 per year that it costs to keep a murderer incarcerated, multiply THAT number by, what, say.... 100,000 (just a ball-park guess as to the number of convicted murderers there are).
The justice system spends billions of dollars every year trying to control murder.
Heck, they spent in excess of $100M on Pickton's trial alone. Now THAT, is what I would call CRAZY MONEY. | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 4:38:46 PM | i really dont get what ya all are up in arms about
who gives a dcrack if they want to up hype the friggin flu
you stood equally asmuch chance of dying from this flu as you did fromall the other ones
however, now, because they wish to create a hype and dramatize something, you all suck up to it and lose your heads
heres an idea
make 10 more flu threads and pretend like its going to change one iota of the outcome
gimme a friggin break already
ITS JUST A FLU !! get over it already
did you hear, apparently drs say we are all terminal . regardless if we get a flu shot,. at most, we are all gonna be dead in another 80 yrs
maximum | |
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Posted: 11/1/2009 5:48:06 PM | | Please note that GSK hopes to have a vaccine ready for public use for malaria within the next 5 years! All these pharmaceutical companies make some excellent products-not just vaccines! | |
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