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H1N1 battle into new phase

Clinics open doors to all Manitobans

By: Larry Kusch

19/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 12

A health worker prepares an H1N1flu vaccination at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain.

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A health worker prepares an H1N1flu vaccination at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain. (CP)

Manitoba health officials have entered a new phase in their race against the H1N1 virus, but they still don't know when they'll reach the finish line.

As the province threw open the doors to H1N1 vaccination clinics for all Manitobans for the first time Wednesday, officials weren't sure whether the immunization program could be completed on time. They'll only be able to assess that after the fact.

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Dr. Joel Kettner, the province's chief medical officer of health, said he's unsure what stage the illness is at in Manitoba, but suspects it's somewhere around the mid-point of this second wave of H1N1. The first wave occurred this past spring and early summer, killing seven Manitobans.

Kettner also could not say how long flu vaccination clinics are likely to continue. "We're looking at this on a week-to-week basis, if not a day-to-day basis," he told a news conference.

David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said it could take until January to complete a national immunization program if all Canadians wanted an H1N1 flu shot.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority had originally planned to conduct its mass vaccination clinics through Dec. 4. But that was before vaccine supplier GlaxoSmithKline started experiencing production blips.

Manitoba health officials have been frustrated by the production delays, which have caused them to temporarily close vaccination clinics.

"The idea of giving a vaccine in January for a pandemic influenza that we're in the middle, if we are (in the middle of it)... is not really our best idea of how this vaccine should be used," Kettner said.

He said there is still a great benefit to receiving the flu shot -- both for individual protection as well as to protect others. "But with every passing day that benefit diminishes," he added.

Manitoba officials knew it was time to remove restrictions on who could get the flu shot as lineups at clinics vanished in recent days. Previous weeks have seen vaccinations limited to priority groups such as aboriginal people, pregnant women, children, the homeless and people with underlying medical conditions.

Opening up the clinics -- even though there are still an untold number of folks from the priority groups yet to be vaccinated -- was important to keeping the facilities running at optimum efficiency.

Winnipeg's 12 clinics have become more and more efficient as the weeks have passed, said Milton Sussman, the WRHA's chief operating officer. They can now poke 15,000 arms or more in a single day, if there is enough vaccine -- and clients -- at all locations, he said.

"We've been able to move people through the lines much more quickly and process the people through the clinics in a more timely way," he said.

Opening clinics this Saturday will depend on vaccine supplies, he said. Going into Wednesday, the city had about 32,000 doses left, and another shipment is not expected before next week.

Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, there were no lineups at the clinic at Grant Park Shopping Centre.

Jas Bharaj said he found out on the Free Press online edition that he could now receive the flu shot, was one of the early birds. "It's for the best," he said of getting immunized.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

City clinics can vaccinate 16,000 people a day

 

379,000 -- number of doses of vaccine the province had received as of Monday.

245,000 -- number of Manitobans who had been immunized by Tuesday night.

147,565 -- number of people vaccinated at WRHA immunization clinics by Wednesday afternoon.

15,000 to 16,000 -- the number of vaccinations that can be done now in one day at the city's 12 clinics with proper vaccine supplies and if people come out in sufficient numbers at all clinics.

14,000-plus -- the highest number of vaccinations that have been done in a single day in Winnipeg so far.

30,704 -- the most that have been vaccinated in a single day provincewide.

32,000 -- number of doses of H1N1 vaccine on hand in Winnipeg going into Wednesday.

10-14 -- number of days it takes once you get the shot before it provides full protection from H1N1.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 19, 2009 A5

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12 Commentscomment icon

kat-kat-kat... "If this flu should mutate, this particular vaccine would not save you." It is people like you that refuse the vaccine, end up getting the flu, and create the mutated virus. We know you don't mean to but that's how it happens!

Sam I don't agree...it is a waste of our dollars.

Do people realize that this vaccine is only good for 4-6 months, and another vaccine will have to be developed for the next season of H1N1. It's just like the seasonal flu. They are going to combine next years H1N1 vaccine with the seasonal flu vaccine.

If the Free Press reported that, "there is alot more deaths from the seasonal flu than the H1N1. " their report was not really accurate. I suspect they probably said something different, but the difference was made to subtly.

The seasonal flu death totals are not totals of confirmed deaths. They are estimates based on the increase in deaths seasonally that the seasonal flu had a hand in causing. Whereas the H1N1 numbers you are looking at are confirmed deaths.

The two numbers are vastly different in meaning, as explained here by Prof. Jordan Ellenberg, an expert in medical epidemiology statistics:

w ww.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/11/16/h1n1-deaths.html

The article also quotes another expert, Kumanan Wilson an internal medicine physician. Summarizing his quotes:

"Nobody has seen a flu season like this on the ground level. If you talk to any frontline worker, they've never seen anything like this. And we keep getting told this is nothing. Emergency departments are filled. All the children's hospitals are filled. Family docs I talk to say, 'Oh my God, I've never seen so many flu cases'"

@kat
"This vaccine is not a necessity."

That has yet to be proven as we are not even in the second wave. If you look back at the 1918 flu, the first wave produced mild deaths, but its second wave reach over 5 million.
The vaccine is a preventative measure.

Nonetheless, I do enjoy your baseless rants though.

"It would take a year to make another properly"

Methinks kat just makes up facts as need arises. I'm sure you know exactly what is going on in the Ukraine, being the expert you are.

Kat, no food, not even organically grown food is ever completely safe. Organically grown peanuts of the very highest purity and quality are highly lethal to some people. And organically grown peanuts of the highest purity are lethal to all people if they are contaminated with certain molds.

So of course this vaccine is not completely safe.

No food, medicine or medical procedure is every completely safe. But this vaccine is much safer than those organically grown peanuts of the highest purity and quality.

Since the testing before approval, many hundreds of thousands of doses of this particular vaccine have been given this year.

And this vaccine is being prepared the same way flu vaccines have been prepared in Western Europe (where health care is generally better than Canada according to the UN) for over a decade.

That everything has a risk does not mean it is not approved.

Something is likely to be approved if the benefits of consuming it demonstrably create a benefit greater than the risk (cost) of not consuming it.

And you are much safer having this vaccine in you than not having it in you, assuming you are not allergic to eggs or the few other ingredients in the vaccine.

so now that the doors are wide open for anyone to attend... and there are no lineups. How much longer are we going to keep staff on hand in several locations? Do the staff now just sit there waiting for people to happen by? Should there be consideration given for perhaps closing some of the locations or reducing staff?

379,000 doses delivered to Manitoba, minus 245,000 doses consumed in Manitoba, equals 134,000 on hand in Manitoba.

But the WRHA, who serves more than 70% of Manitoba's population has only 32,000 doses on hand.

Why the discrepancy?

This discrepancy has existed throughout the vaccine shortage event -- when it was big news. And I kept bringing it up in the social comments here.

I'm sure there is a logical explanation, but could a reporter ask the question?

Fish: This is from Manitoba health website this morning.

"Children between six months and under three years old should receive two half doses of adjuvanted vaccine. There should be at least 21 days between the first and second shot.

Children with chronic health conditions who are between three and nine years old should receive their first half dose of the H1N1 flu vaccine as soon as possible. They should also receive a second half dose of the vaccine. There should be at least 21 days between the first and second shot.

Healthy children between three and nine years old should only receive a single half dose of the H1N1 vaccine and do not need to return for a second shot. This recommendation may be updated as more information becomes available."

I believe this is what was being followed yesterday at the clinic I was at.

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