As of this week, some Calgary pharmacies have received deliveries of COVID-19 and flu vaccines but doctors and nurse practitioners could be left out
Albertans looking to get a COVID-19 shot, a flu shot or both this fall will only be able to do so at pharmacies or Alberta Health Services public health clinics.
Family doctors and nurse practitioners were told in a recent memo shared by Alberta Health that they will not receive deliveries for the vaccines in time for the fall immunization program and that it’s uncertain if they would receive them at all.
The distribution of provincially funded vaccines to medical and nurse practitioner clinics was “temporarily paused” in April when a contract with the distribution company was expired, the memo stated.
“At this time, Alberta Health has not been successful in contracting a distributor to ship vaccines to community medical and nurse practitioner clinics,” the document read. A recent expression of interest in the same was closed and no submissions were received, the memo added.
“As a result, a vendor for vaccine distribution will not be in place by October 15 for the start of the influenza and COVID vaccine program.”
The memo asked health-care providers to redirect Albertans to AHS clinics and pharmacies to get their shots while the disruption is being resolved.
Several city pharmacies confirmed on Friday that they have received standard- and high-dose vaccines for the flu this week but say they’ve heard little on when they can expect to receive shipments for COVID-19 vaccines, apart from the promise of more details in the coming weeks.
“People have been asking since the summer,” Ryan Marien, pharmacy manager for Mint Health + Drugs Blue Bottle pharmacy said.
Doctors and medical community advocates have echoed the same in the past weeks, criticizing the government for a lack of direction on when and how vaccines will be rolled out and voicing concerns on how this may impact a season where cases are climbing by the week.
“We are in another wave of COVID,” Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary ER doctor and co-chair of the Canadian Covid Society, said. “It’s important to note that in the United States vaccines have been available for a month and we won’t be getting access to vaccines in Alberta for another two weeks … and we’re doing little aside from vaccination.”
The Alberta government said timing of the vaccine rollout is dependent on the federal government’s procurement and distribution to provinces.
What we know about Alberta’s flu and COVID vaccination plan so far
When asked about the specificities of a roll-out plan earlier this week, an emailed statement from the health minister’s office stated vaccines are “starting to arrive in the province and policy information is starting to be shared with immunizing stakeholders to support program implementation.”
“We will have more to say on Alberta’s immunization program in the next week,” the statement added.
At the same news conference, LaGrange explained approval and procurement of the vaccines is in the hands of the federal government. “We are awaiting the finalization (of the vaccines) and then they are also the ones that procure on masse for the whole country,” she said.
Federally, three COVID vaccines have already been approved by Health Canada for use domestically — Moderna’s Spikevax by Sept. 17, Pfizer’s Comirnaty by Sept. 24 and Novavax’s Nuvaxoid by Sept. 19.
In an emailed statement, Health Canada spokesperson Anna Maddison confirmed all vaccines have been authorized and that a “sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines” has been secured to meet provincial and territorial demand.
“Doses of mRNA vaccines began arriving in jurisdictions within days of regulatory authorization by Health Canada,” the statement adds.
Of the three, Novavax will not be supplied federally and it will be up to the provinces and territories to procure the vaccine, if required. This is because Canada’s contract with Novavax only provides access to domestically manufactured vaccines, which Novavax has not been able to confirm for the 2024-25 season, the emailed statement added.
The Novavax Nuvaxoid vaccine targets the JN.1 variant, which is currently the dominant variant in Canada. The vaccine will not be available in Alberta, privately or publicly.
“As Novavax will not be providing domestically manufactured vaccines to Canada, the Nuvaxoid vaccine will not be included in Alberta’s fall immunization program,” an emailed statement from the health minister’s office reads.
“As confirmed by Novavax, Nuvaxoid will not be available on the private market, and there will be no option for Albertans to purchase the vaccine.”
Vaccines available at some Calgary pharmacies
Britannia Pharmacy received a week’s worth of vaccines for COVID-19 and the flu on Thursday, according to an employee. “I had to call several times about it,” they said.
Other pharmacies say they are still waiting to receive deliveries for COVID-19 vaccines.
“The only communication we got from the government is how many doses to order,” Leila Khoroub, pharmacy manager for Sirocco Pharmacy Compounding and Travel Clinic, said.
However, there has been no communication on when and how to order shipments of the vaccine, she added. “We’re expecting it hopefully next week.”
Chris Kolody, pharmacist with Lukas Pharmacy, had a similar sentiment. “We’re kind of in a holding pattern until it arrives,” he said with regards to the COVID-19 vaccines. Should the vaccines arrive prior or on the rollout date, they would be immediately available to people who want them, he added.
Angelene Puri, pharmacy assistant at Sage Plus Clinical Pharmacy, said the pharmacy should receive deliveries for the flu vaccines by Oct. 9 but have not been told when they will receive the same for COVID-19. “We are always getting phone calls and people are always coming in (to ask about the vaccines)” she said.
When asked if hospitals and clinics have or will be receiving supplies of the flu and COVID-19 vaccines, James Wood, media spokesperson for Alberta Health Services said in an email that all questions on vaccine supply and distribution should be directed to the government and that there will be “more information coming in the weeks ahead on rollout.”
‘Frustration’ in medical community
Doctors and medical advocates have voiced concerns on the lack of messaging by the province on vaccines, regarding accessibility and the need for the public to vaccinate.
COVID-19 was the seventh-leading cause of death for past 12 months, according to Vipond, adding that 757 people in Alberta died of the disease between August 2023 until August 2024. “Kind of equivalent to deaths from diabetes.”
So far 44 people have died from COVID-19, with half of the deaths occurring in the last week, Vipond said.
Internal numbers, he added, show a doubling of COVID-19 hospital admissions in the past six weeks since mid-August. “Right now, we are in the exponential rise phase of the wave,” he said. “And it’s hard to know when that’s going to peak out.”
The lack of mitigation within the community and hospitals may do more harm, he said. “We no longer have to mask in hospitals,” he said. “So we’re not only going to have people coming into the hospital with this infection but we’re going to be giving this infection to our inpatients, which will prolong their stays and cause more hospital-acquired deaths. And that makes me profoundly morally distressed.”
There hasn’t been any public campaigning by the province to encourage Albertans to get vaccinated, said Chris Galloway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
“We used to see big public campaigns … billboards and ads. You would see health ministers going and getting their flu shot and media events around it,” he said. This year however, “it’s a very different tone,” he said. “We’re seeing silence right now.
“There’s certainly a sense of frustration in the public health community around this government’s lack of encouraging people to get vaccinated … and instead use their time … to focus on freedom not to get vaccinated,” said Lorian Hardcastle, University of Calgary expert on health law.
“They also have a responsibility where they’re falling short on in terms of providing information on where those who do want to be vaccinated can do so,” she said.
Hardcastle emphasized the need to make Novavax, the only non-mRNA vaccine option, available for Albertans who are either immunocompromised and/or hesitant to take an mRNA vaccine option. “One of the interesting things that we saw emerge from COVID … was that people actually did have preferences about which vaccines they were willing to receive,” she said. “We need to be doing anything we can to encourage people to get vaccinated.”
According to Health Canada, only 5,529 doses of the 125,000 Novavax XBB.1.5 vaccine doses ordered in 2023 were administered.
Vipond said the poor uptake may be because the doses were first made available in January 2023, while the mRNA vaccines were available months earlier. “Of course, there’s been a lower uptake if you provide it late and don’t give people the information you need to make,” he said.