Via the Vancouver Sun: H1N1 flu shot may not be easy to get in B.C. Excerpt:
On Thursday the Provincial Medical Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall advised the 60 per cent of British Columbians who have not yet been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu strain to go and get their shot.
Roger Swetnam took him at his word and contacted his family doctor who said he didn’t want to crack open a 10-shot vial of vaccine just to administer one shot and have the rest go to waste.
An opened vial of vaccine has a shelf life of 24 hours.
“I was told I’d need 10 people,” said Swetnam who wants the shot before travelling to Australia in a couple of weeks.
Swetnam called two clinics and received the same message. He has since found a walk-in clinic which said they will give him the vaccine today.
“I didn’t think I’d have this much trouble getting vaccinated. I think the public health people should make it easier for people to get vaccinated,” he said.
His wife Maria wasn’t impressed. “I don’t think the Australians would appreciate it if we brought H1N1 with us when we seem to have an excess of vaccine in B.C, ” she said.
Kendall said he sympathized with Swetnam but could understand why a physician wouldn’t want to let a vial of vaccine worth $80 worth go to waste.
He expects clinics dispensing the vaccine to organize a registry so that when people call they would be put on a list and given a time when the vaccine would be administered.
