Minister allows pharmacists to give free measles vaccines to young Manitobans

Manitoba pharmacists will soon be able to administer free measles vaccine to a susceptible population — people aged two to 19 — to combat high rates of transmission in the province.

“I think that’s a really good common sense step that we can take to make sure that more Manitobans have access to a really important vaccine right now,” said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who will sign the order Tuesday to allow pharmacists to give out the vaccine. The measure will take effect immediately.

The number of measles cases in Manitoba so far this year is the highest in the country, recent Public Health Agency of Canada data show. Manitoba has had 352 confirmed measles cases compared with the current total of 230 in the rest of Canada.

The minister made the decision following a request by Manitoba pharmacists, who called for an “all-hands-on deck” approach to deal with the worst outbreak in the country.

Pharmacists Manitoba asked the provincial government to remove barriers to access the measles vaccine by making it readily available for its members to administer through Manitoba’s publicly funded system.

Vaccination is the best way to prevent transmission of the highly contagious disease. Ninety per cent of cases in Manitoba this year have involved people who were not immunized.

“We need an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Gayle Romanetz, president of the association, said in a news release issued Monday before the health minister’s announcement.

Later in the day, Asagwara thanked the pharmacists for reaching out.

“I think the most important thing here is making sure that no matter where you live in Manitoba, you’re going to have a primary-care provider who can get you that vaccine,” the minister said. “It’s greater protection for your family and communities.”

Manitoba has more than 1,700 pharmacists and 500 pharmacies in 90 communities who offer convenient, professional service to help boost vaccine uptake, as they have with flu and COVID-19 shots, Pharmacists Manitoba said.

“I think the most important thing here is making sure that no matter where you live in Manitoba, you’re going to have a primary-care provider who can get you that vaccine.”

It had called on the province to enlist their help to stem the rising case count and the toll measles is taking on the health of Manitobans and the health care system.

“We’re glad to hear that the minister has heard our concerns and is open to allowing pharmacists to provide more primary care because it’s what we’ve been asking for for years,” said Britt Kural, a pharmacy practice adviser with Pharmacists Manitoba.

“We’re pleased to hear there was such a quick, positive response,” she said in an interview Monday, adding the organization would like its members to provide additional care for other types of conditions.

“In this province, pharmacists have the most limited abilities to practise compared to any other province in Canada when we are the most accessible and trusted health care practitioner for many patients,” Kural said. “This is an opportunity for us to provide better, more accessible care to help with the measles outbreak that we’re seeing right now. I think it’s a start.”

Kural said she’s disappointed the age cap for vaccination has been set at 19.

“Our concern right now is making sure that as many Manitobans as possible, particularly young Manitobans, are protected here.”

“We do know that there are adults in the community who are undervaccinated,” the pharmacist said. “I think it’s important to have a whole community properly vaccinated to really curb what’s going on,” Kural said.

Winnipeg-based epidemiologist Cynthia Carr also expressed concern about older teens and adults who need a “catch-up dose” or have never been vaccinated for measles.

“That is a very important area,” said Carr, founder of Epi Research Inc. “Teens and adults who haven’t been vaccinated might think they don’t need to be vaccinated, but they don’t realize the reason they didn’t get the measles is because it wasn’t circulating and now it is. It is a very important situation that we’re in,” she said.

On Monday, Manitoba public health officials listed several new sites where exposure to measles may have occurred within the past six days, including Winkler, Niverville, Oak Bluff and Winnipeg.

Manitobans are urged to check with their public health office, doctor, nurse practitioner or pharmacist to see if they’ve been immunized.

“Immunization is the only means of protecting people from contracting measles,” the government news release said.

Several other provinces allow pharmacists to administer the measles vaccine, including B.C., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec. Most pharmacists already have access to Manitoba’s Public Health Information Management System to access immunization histories and schedules, while also having the ability to inform physicians about any new vaccinations.

The health minister didn’t know the cost of implementing the vaccination measure.

“I’m not concerned with the cost. Our concern right now is making sure that as many Manitobans as possible, particularly young Manitobans, are protected here,” said Asagwara, recalling recent visitors to the legislature.

“There was a mom who brought her 18-month-old daughter, who has a very rare disease. One of the things she wanted me to really understand was that if her daughter got sick with measles — and she looked me in the eye when she said this — ‘my daughter wouldn’t survive it’. So we have to think about the most vulnerable Manitobans right now,” Asagwara said.

“We have to think about who it is that we are protecting and who it is that we should be taking into consideration when we’re asking people to go out and get the measles vaccine.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

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