CALGARY- Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne says a shipment of flu vaccine that arrived in the province earlier this week could be the last to arrive this flu season.
“Yesterday Alberta received the last shipment of influenza vaccine on the planet,” said Horne at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Alberta Health Services estimates there are between 80,000 and 100,000 doses left in the province.
As influenza continues to spread, Albertans are fighting back, with nearly one million people getting vaccinated against it.
AHS says the flu shot has been given out at more than 1,800 locations around the province, including pharmacies, doctor’s offices and clinics. However, complaints are still pouring in about long lineups—despite the premier’s assurances that the delivery system is effective.
“We’ve been in line for an hour now, and we were here yesterday for an hour as well, we couldn’t get in,” says Peter Sarkozy who was lined up at the Brentwood clinic. “Prior to us coming here we went to several pharmacies over the last few weeks. They’ve all been promised vaccine, none of them have any vaccine.
“We’ve been back at least five or six times. That’s why we’re desperate, we’re here.”
Pharmacist Randy Howden says his store got a shipment of vaccine on Monday, but ran out the same day.
“Demand has been very high, we’ve been fielding multiple phone calls every day and we have a waitlist now of about 80 patients,” he says. “We’re not getting regular communication about when our vaccine is going to be available. Being able to communicate that to our patients is very difficult.”
Health officials say more doses are on the way, but don’t plan to distribute them to pharmacies.
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