Immunizers not expected to wear gloves

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This article was published 17/03/2021 (1821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IMMUNIZERS who work at mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics throughout Manitoba are not typically required to wear medical gloves while administering shots to the public.

A provincial health official confirmed the infection prevention and control policy decision on Tuesday after the Free Press received a complaint from a doctor who was dismayed gloves were not used when he received his shot recently.

“Our immunizers must follow strict protocols to ensure the safety of the patient, which includes cleaning of hands between patients. The use of gloves is based on an assessment of the risk of infection to the immunizer,” a spokesman said in a statement. “Therefore, they will use them according to this assessment which may not be for every situation.”

Immunizers must wear masks and eye protection.

“Gloves may prevent proper hand hygiene thereby increasing risk of infection,” the provincial spokesman added. “Cleaning of hands between patients is a very important measure for the prevention of infection.”

Images taken by media at clinics and personal care homes throughout Manitoba of people receiving COVID-19 vaccines show immunizers either administering vaccines with bare hands or wearing medical gloves.

According to the province’s mass vaccination clinic operational manual, “use of gloves while providing immunization is not usually required.

“However if the staff providing immunization assesses according to (Point of Care Risk Assessment) that they need gloves, they should be available for use.”

Ontario, Alberta, and New Brunswick do not routinely require medical gloves to be worn while giving an immunization. Rather, the use of gloves is also based on a risk assessment conducted by the immunizer. Infection prevention and control measures in place at immunization clinics in other provinces were not immediately available Tuesday.

“If gloves are used, they must be changed between patients/clients and proper donning and doffing must be adhered to. Wearing gloves is not a substitute for proper hand hygiene,” infection prevention and control guidance issued by the province of Alberta states.

New Brunswick’s largest regional health authority has advised that gloves are not recommended unless there is a risk immunizers may come into contact with infectious body fluids, such as through cuts on hands.

Ontario also provides gloves to immunizers but they are only required to wear them if a personal risk assessment “includes contact with blood or body fluids, broken skin or use of disinfectants/chemicals.”

According to the Canadian Immunization Guide, glove use during immunization is not usually needed “unless the skin on the vaccine provider’s hands is not intact or when administering Bacille Calmette-Guérin or smallpox vaccine.”