Some infant vaccines postponed as N.W.T. health officials prioritize flu clinics, COVID shots
Parents say they were shocked to receive calls from public health workers about cancelled appointments
Some routine vaccinations in Yellowknife, including for infants, are being pushed back or cancelled in favour of flu clinics and COVID-19 vaccinations.
Several parents have told CBC News they have received calls from health workers cancelling their babies' vaccine appointments.
On Oct. 21, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority posted a public notice online informing Yellowknifers of the service disruption. The notice states that the Yellowknife Public Health Unit will have reduced services between Oct. 21 and Nov. 5 in order to manage seasonal flu vaccine clinics as well as COVID-19 vaccine clinics at the Centre Square Mall.
In a separate notice, the authority indicated it was making COVID-19 booster shots available to anyone over 50 in Yellowknife.
"Public health will resume routine vaccination clinics and services following the end of the seasonal flu clinic in Yellowknife on November 5th," the notice stated.
The health authority could not provide an interview before press time to discuss the implications of the service disruption. However, in an email, spokesperson David Maguire said no urgent appointments are being cancelled. He said hours of service will increase after Nov. 5 in order to make sure everyone who was impacted by the disruption can be seen in a timely fashion.
"The Public Health team has triaged the cancelled appointments in order of urgency and are rescheduling the appointments on a priority basis," Maguire wrote.
Make some noise, parents say
Parents who spoke with CBC News described jumping through extra hoops to get their child's appointment rebooked as fast as possible. Several of them succeeded, after calling their MLAs, posting publicly about the issue and calling public health back.
Robin Hamilton said she was in shock when health workers delivered the news that her four-month-old daughter, Madison, wouldn't be able to receive her shots as expected.
The news came just days before Madison was due to receive her rubella, tetanus and whooping cough vaccines. Hamilton said she was told the appointment would be delayed by almost a month.
"I was very frustrated – almost in a state of shock. I couldn't believe that a flu clinic was more mandatory than protecting our infants," she said.
"Even talking about it now gets me very emotional. I started crying pretty hysterically on the phone with them, and it just didn't seem like my concerns were being met over the phone at all."
Hamilton posted about her frustrations in a Yellowknife Facebook group, and also called her MLA. The next day, she got another call from public health and was able to reschedule her daughter's appointment so the vaccines would be given on schedule.
"I couldn't believe that it took doing all those steps just to get her regular appointment back," she said.
"I hate saying that I was lucky to get her appointment back, but that is the statement: it was luck."
Marrissa White, a new mother to a two-month-old baby, said she got the call from public health on Sunday cancelling her appointment. She said she was told staff had to be redeployed for a flu clinic.
"They said I would be added to a wait list, and that was it," she said, adding no one could answer her questions about how long the wait list was or what the implications would be of pushing back her daughter's vaccine schedule.
She eventually called public health back to try to find out more about the wait list, and was able to get her appointment rescheduled.
"I really appreciate that they were able to do that, but I'm not sure if other moms are reaching out to do the same," she said.
"I'm a new mom of a barely two-month-old, so following up on these sorts of administrative tasks is hard."
When Hamilton posted about her experience on the Yellowknife Facebook group's page, numerous parents told her they had experienced the same thing. Some people didn't know where to turn, while others encouraged those who posted comments on the page to call their elected representatives.
Hamilton said the volume of people who are experiencing this shocked her.
"I felt from a lot of people's comments that a lot of them felt like they were alone – they didn't realize that a lot of people are also going through this and taking steps to fight for [their] child's health rights," she said.
"My daughter can't speak for herself – I am her voice. Knowing everything that's out there right now, with COVID, with flus and everything, and that she wasn't going to be even minorly protected for what she should be, it was very upsetting and scary."