Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:24:3
AHN Staff
Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - After much controversy generated by accounts of queue jumping by favored groups like athletes, hospital executives and private school students, Ontario decided to solve the problem of who should be vaccinated first by opening the opportunity to secure Influenza A (H1N1) protection to all Greater Toronto Area residents.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, after twice expanding the swine flu vaccine priority list, offered beginning Wednesday the inoculation to all residents of Toronto, York, Halton and Durham. Peel residents could also fall in line in vaccination clinics by Thursday.
The H1N1 shots would also be available in clinics of private practitioners. The widening of the list comes at a time that flu activity has been observed to be on a downtrend in Ontario.
However, what is up are cases of adverse reactions in British Columbia to the H1N1 vaccine. According to the BC Center for Disease Control, there are 2.2 residents with severe allergic reactions for every 1,000 H1N1 doses distributed. Some medical experts explained the allergic reaction to BC residents having received the swine flu and seasonal flu shots at the same time.
But no one among the 18 cases in BC with anaphylaxis reactions to the H1N1 had died from the swine flu. Across Canada, only 36 Canadians have reported suffering from serious side effects from the flu vaccine out of 6.6 million doses injected among Canadians.
Article © AHN - All Rights Reserved