Healthy Albertans urged to hold off on flu vaccine

Alberta health officials pleaded with people who are at low risk of complications from swine flu to stay away from vaccination clinics as vaccine supplies in the province dwindle.

About 250,000 Albertans were vaccinated in the first four days of the campaign, and long lines at flu clinics in Calgary on Friday indicate the demand for the vaccine isn't slowing down.

That has meant Alberta has dipped significantly into its supply of 600,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine.

Starting Monday, supplies to all of the provinces will slow down while the manufacturer focuses on a non-adjuvanted vaccine, meant as an option for pregnant women.

'If we keep going at this pace, we could run out, depending how much vaccine we get next week.' Dr. Andr Corriveau

"If you are not in a priority group please wait a few more weeks to get vaccinated. We will have supplies for everybody and we plan to have everyone vaccinated by Christmas," Dr. Andr Corriveau, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said Friday.

Alberta's supply is also earmarked for people living on reserves, who haven't been counted among the 250,000 vaccinated so far. Other doses have been spoiled by accident in the clinics, saidDr. Gerry Predy, Alberta Health Services' senior medical officer of health.

"If we keep going at this pace, we could run out, depending how much vaccine we get next week," said Corriveau.

Health officials defend approach

Unlike most provinces, Alberta has offered the vaccine to anyone who wants it over the age of six months old this week, asking those in high-risk groups to get in line early.

Corriveau and Predy defended that approach on Friday, saying it would have slowed lines down to screen for risk factors. Predy said conversations with nurses indicate that people in high-risk groups are turning out at clinics.

"If we are running short of vaccine we will do what we need to do," Corriveau said. "Then you use a targeted approach where you go to certain settings where you expect to find the high-risk only."

Neither Corriveau or Predy have receivedtheir shot yet because they don't consider themselves among the high-risk groups.

Another Alberta H1N1 death

A Calgary-area manhas died of H1N1, bringing the death toll in the province since April to 13, official said on Friday.

Provincial health officials don't release much information about people who become seriously ill from the virus, but they said 85 per cent of the people who have died had underlying medical conditions.

So far, 233 people have been hospitalized because of H1N1. Most cases of H1N1 in the province remain mild, Corriveau said.

In Calgary and Edmonton, flu assessment clinics opened Friday staffed by doctors and nurses in a bid to ease congestion in emergency rooms and walk-in clinics.

Flu talk 'hysteria', Tory MLA says

The province's response to the pandemic continues to raise concerns among provincial politicians.

On Friday, Liberal Leader David Swann said the province's decision to limit the number of clinics and not to prioritize who should get the shots could cause more people to die.

'This sort of pandemic hysteria I don't understand why people are doing it. It's the flu.' Doug Griffiths, Tory MLA

"When people don't get a vaccine and they're therefore vulnerable to infection and the infection causes death in some cases, obviously, this results in increased illness and increased death rates," he said.

Liberal MLA Kevin Taft worries there won't be enough intensive-care beds for people who need them. He is concerned that Alberta Health Services has estimated it will need anywhere from 600 to 2,800 such beds to deal with the pandemic.

"It's quite clear from the plan that there are not enough intensive-care units for the number of people they fully expect to need them," Taft said.

Taft believes the province needs to draft ethical guidelines to determine who gets the beds.

The Tory MLA for Battle River-Wainwright, Doug Griffiths, has been fielding complaints from his constituents after a clinic in Wainwright ran out of vaccine earlier this week. Griffiths believes both politicians and the public need to settle down.

"This sort of pandemic hysteria Idon't understand why people are doing it. It's the flu," he said.