Alberta doctors to wear buttons to promote flu shots for health-care workers
Province wants higher percentage of physicians to get immunized
A province-wide push to get doctors to roll up their sleeves for the flu shot is about to begin.
The campaign comes as health officials warn a heavier hand might be necessary if the numbers don't improve this year.
It's being organized by the Alberta Medical Association and the zone medical staff associations.
Every immunized doctor across Alberta will be asked to wear a blue and gold button that says "This Doc got the Shot.”
The aim is to encourage physicians to get immunized voluntarily so that the province doesn’t have to resort to mandatory flu vaccines for health-care workers.
"To truly get people doing this year after year the best, I think, is to get them to do it voluntary,” said Dr. Kevin Hay, president of the medical staff association for central Alberta.
He said there is debate about exactly how many physicians do get immunized.
"From anything I can see lots of doctors are getting it. So we next have to prove that,” Hay said.
The province says the number of health-care workers getting the shot is much lower than its target of 80 per cent.
"If the numbers don't get to where they should be, then certainly some form of mandatory vaccination might be necessary,” Dr. Gerry Predy, Alberta's senior medical officer of health, said on the Calgary Eyeopener on Friday.
The problem is it’s difficult to track. If a health-care worker gets the flu shot at an AHS clinic, it can be registered right there. But if they get it at a pharmacy or family doctor’s office, it would only be self-reported.
To get a more accurate picture, the College of Physicians and Surgeons is now surveying doctors and plans to share the data with AHS.