Too much demand, too little vaccine forces change to H1N1 clinics

(Posted Friday at 6:22 p.m.)

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

A couple of days before an H1N1 vaccination clinic was set to open in Yarmouth – and even after witnessing what was happening at clinics elsewhere in the province – the belief from South West Health had been that the health district had enough vaccine and enough staff to handle whatever size crowd may turn up.

That presumption was wrong.

A few hours after opening it became obvious the clinic was overwhelmed and by 4 p.m. it was starting to turn people away, despite the fact it was only set to close three hours later. It was also turning people away because the provinces have been told they are going to be receiving less vaccine than originally promised.

And while a free H1N1 vaccination clinic is still set to go ahead Monday, Nov. 3, at the Lions Club from noon to 7 p.m., rather than being a clinic for the general public health officials say it would only be for those who fall in the identified high-risk groups, due to the vaccine supply. The public is also being told that until further notice physicians will only give H1N1 flu shots to priority high-risk groups.

The high-risk priority groups are pregnant women, children under the age of five, First Nations people and health-care workers.

By 4 p.m. on Friday the first of South West Health’s H1N1 clinics at the Lions Club had administered around 600 doses, with another 300 people still in line. Anyone who showed up beyond that was turned away.

About an hour later South West Health spokesperson Fraser Mooney told The Vanguard the situation was forcing the health district to have to “regroup.”

What does this mean for us? What do we have planned? Are we going to be able to do the clinics we’ve got planned given the supply we have? These are all questions Mooney said the health district and public health officials will have to look at.

On Friday the province’s Department of Health was also going back to the drawing board.

Mooney added that a couple of days heading into the first free H1N1 clinic in Yarmouth – and there have been 21 such clinics planned over a period of around five weeks in Yarmouth, Digby and Shelburne counties – the word had been that there would be plenty of vaccine for everyone. “Now they’re looking at the supply coming from the pharmaceutical company and things have changed,” said Mooney. “It was unexpected and we only started to get a hint of it (Friday) afternoon.”

South West Health says everyone will eventually be able to get the H1N1 vaccine when more becomes available.

Meanwhile, South West Health has been working on its H1NI pandemic planning since the summer. Mooney said on Friday that the Yarmouth hospital has been seeing an increase in the number of people showing up in the emergency room, but not in such dramatic numbers yet that they had to open up an assessment clinic, which has been done elsewhere in the province.

Still, if the health district does start to see a real heavy surge in H1N1 cases, Mooney said the plan is to scale back non-essential services – like elective surgeries and some ambulatory clinics – to devote more space and resources to H1N1 care.

This coming Monday at the Yarmouth hospital, the Ambulatory Care Clinic (IV Infusions, Gyne Clinics, Minor Procedures, etc.) is moving from the main floor hallway to the 2nd Floor (the old cancer unit). This, said Mooney, is to make more room in case they have to expand ER capacity.

Plus the message from health care officials has changed in the past week. Whereas before people were told to stay home if they had flu-like symptoms, this week they are being told to go to the ER or call 911 if they are experiencing severe symptoms.

On the flip side, people are being asked not to visit people in the hospital if you are sick.

Mooney said the hospital also has contingency plans in place in case large numbers of health care workers are stricken with H1N1. While part of this involves scaling back non-essential health care services, it also involves moving people resources around.

This province isn’t the only one forced to rethink its immunization campaign approach. Other provinces have announced they are suspending H1N1 clinics for the general public due to a vaccine shortage, and will only be focusing on the high-risk groups.

Because this continues to be an evolving story, check NovaNewsNow.com for updates on H1N1 clinics.

Also visit the province's website on H1N1 for new developments at:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/

or

www.gov.ns.ca/h1n1

or

http://gov.ns.ca/news/smr/2009-10-30-h1n1.asp

QUICK GLANCE:

High risk H1N1 groups: •pregnant women •children younger than five •people living in First Nations communities •health-care workers in district health authorities, long-term care facilities and home-care agencies who provide direct care to patients. This includes family physicians, family practice nurses, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. •Everyone else will be able to get the H1N1 shot when more vaccine is available.