Although Alberta Health Services has been campaigning hard this year asking everybody to get flu immunization shots, the supply has now run dry.
The Westlock Community Healthcare Centre and pharmacies around town had posted signs Friday saying they were out of the vaccine — something the provincial government was expecting.
At a media conference in Edmonton last Wednesday, health minister Fred Horne and Dr. James Talbot announced that Alberta had secured an extra shipment of 65,000 doses of the vaccine, which Horne said was “the last shipment on the planet.”
Nonetheless, they expected those to have run out by Friday, leaving the unvaccinated on their own.
Talbot said once the vaccine ran out, there would be about 28 per cent of Albertans who had received the shot, which is an increase over last year’s numbers.
He said regardless of whether Albertans are vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, which is the predominant strain in the province, it is generally manageable without the vaccine.
“The flu is a disease a lot of people can handle on their own,” he said.
AHS is reporting eight deaths so far this year due to the flu, which is in the expected range for a typical flu season.
By comparison, there were 72 deaths associated with H1N1 in 2009.
Of the eight deaths this year, none are reported to be in the north zone, which includes Westlock. AHS would not offer information on a more local level, citing privacy concerns.
While the Edmonton and Calgary zones have “widespread” flu activity, there is only “sporadic” activity in the north zone — which includes a total of 94 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 as of Jan. 4, the most recent data available as of press time. In the week from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4, 54 new cases were reported in the zone.
AHS is asking people to take simple precautions to avoid contracting or spreading the flu virus, such as frequent hand washing, covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze and staying home from school or work if they’re displaying flu-like symptoms.
As for the immunization rates among healthcare workers, AHS is reporting the 47.8 per cent of workers province-wide have received the vaccine, with a rate of 48 per cent in the north zone but only 40.9 per cent at the Westlock Healthcare Centre.
AHS has also confirmed one death due to H5N1, the so-called “avian flu,” but have emphasized that this is an isolated case and the virus is not easily transmitted from human to human.
