Fewer flu shot clinics in Winnipeg this year, but uptake remains steady: health authority

Winnipeg's health authority is running fewer flu shot clinics this year than last year, but the authoritysays the number of people getting their shots hasn't dropped.

Flu shots are availableat public health offices, nursing stations, doctor's offices, QuickCare clinics, ACCESS Centres, pharmacies or duringflu shot clinics, according to the province.

Last year, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority ran 29 suchflu shot clinics at 10 different locations in the city, according to a spokesperson for the authority. This year, it offered Public Health flu clinics in only four locations, with just one clinic date at each location, targeted atyoung children and people who aren't connected to primary-care providers. The health authority alsopromoted an additional 10 "outreach clinics" hosted by community groups.

Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the change was driven by a "tremendous shift" in the way people get their flu shots, as people increasingly choose the pharmacy over clinics.

"We wanted to try to align where people were going with where we're providing the supplies," the minister said. "Accessibility is still there, and really aligning with where people are going."

• OPINION: Cut in number of flu shot clinics a bad way to keep Manitobans healthy

The number of flu shots provided by public health staff dropped by half between 2014 and 2016, the WRHA spokesperson said, from roughly 24,000 in 2014 down to roughly 12,000 shots in 2016 about eight per cent of all doses provided that year.

Physicians provided just over half of all flu shots last year, she added, and pharmacists administered about 30 per cent of them.

The percentage of people getting flu shots has remained relatively stable at just over a fifth of the population, she added.

"The WRHA has made the decision to re-direct the public health resources from the clinics to targeted efforts to reach vulnerable populations that would otherwise have limited access to vaccines," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Goertzen said the province is confident it will have enough vaccineto provide the shot to anyone who wants one. He said he's already gotten his shot and urged everyone to consider doing the same.

• Get your shots, health minister urges as flu season begins in Manitoba

Province mulls lowering agefor pharmacy shots

NDP health critic Andrew Swan criticized the move to fewer clinics. Pharmacists aren't permitted to administer the vaccine to children under the age of seven, and Swan said fewer clinics means more pressure on busy pediatricians.

"We want every child under seven years of age to get the flu shot,to make sure that as many kids as possible are immunized," he said.

"Unfortunately, this government's decisionmeans that now people are going to have to make a special appointment with their child's pediatrician for the purpose of getting a flu shot."

Goertzen said other provinces enforce a lower age limit and has asked his department to look into making the change in Manitoba as well.

• Flu shot jabs higher when pharmacists give vaccines: Canadian study

"If other provinces have set the age [limit] atfive, that might give you even moreaccessibility to pharmacists," he said.

"Next year it's a little late for this year, because it would take legislative change.But it is a good questionand it is something I am looking into."