Flu vaccines run out in Edmonton, Calgary; clinics close
Alberta Health Services says there is no more flu vaccine available in the Edmonton Zone so vaccination clinics closed for the season at 4:30 p.m. today.
Some doses have been set aside for children who had their first dose earlier this season and need a second dose and to deal with outbreaks in health care centres and continuing care facilities.
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Clinics in the Calgary closed at 6:30 p.m. as vaccine supplies have run out there as well.
Vaccine supplies were expected to last until today so people lined up at clinics across the province to get a flu shot.
Frustrations were running high at the Bonnie Doon Health Centre as people faced a wait just to get a number to come back three hours later in case the clinic still had vaccine.
“I think there should be a dose for everybody in the province,” Paul Thorup said.
“Man, woman and child. It shouldn't be a matter of standing in line, hoping for a lottery.”
More vaccines might be coming soon.
Canada secured another 245,800 doses on Friday. It is up to the provinces and territories to ask Ottawa for new supplies.
Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, is working with his counterparts on a working group to review vaccine supplies, and how it can be divided up among the provinces and territories that have put in requests.
More than 1,500 cases of the flu have been diagnosed in Alberta and eight confirmed deaths. Most of the cases are the H1N1 strain.