Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:39:0
AHN Staff
Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) - Reports of Canadian hockey teams jumping the queue to get the coveted Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine triggered more stories of certain favored groups receiving or being offered the inoculation even if they do not belong to the high-risk group.
Recently it's been reported that the top 200 financial donors of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal were given priority for the H1N1 vaccine shots. Hospital Executive Director Hartley Stern admitted 200 volunteers, most of whom are also donors, were given the adjuvanted vaccine ahead of others. He also acknowledged that 95 percent of the hospital staff including plumbers, janitors and printers were given the inoculations even if guidelines specify only healthcare workers who directly provide physical care to patients should be vaccinated ahead.
In Toronto, the Mount Sinai Hospital admitted its board members got the shots, but were immunized in a clinic open to the public when there was no shortage yet of the vaccine.
These controversies may result in Ottawa having an excess amount of H1N1 vaccine after Christmas, with few Canadians willing to roll up their sleeves for the injection as the second wave of swine flu pandemic ended.
Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada indicates the second wave may be milder than the first, which officially started April 12 and ended Aug. 29. For the first wave, 1,492 Canadians were hospitalized because of the H1N1 virus, of whom 296 were confined at the intensive care unit and 76 died. For the second wave, which started Aug. 30 and ended Oct. 31, 948 Canadians were hospitalized, 147 sent to ICUs and 24 died.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, though, declined to conclude if the peak of the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic has been reached or a third wave may be underway because of the unpredictability of the swine flu virus.
On Tuesday, Health Canada and the Assembly of First Nations will co-host a Virtual Summit on H1N1 preparedness for First Nations communities. The online summit will include talks on preparations and active implementation of measures to deal with the H1N1 second wave. There would also be an expert panel for the Question and Answer portion.
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