I completely agree that the distribution of the vaccine has been a shambles so far. The message that ‘people will not be turned away’ has actually resulted in anyone turning up and in reality causing those who actually need the vaccine first (the high priority cases) being unable to get vaccinated. There was no triage to sort high from low priority – which would seem to me to be absolutely essential (although Michael’s experience on the 30th suggests that they are now doing something along these lines) and seemingly no assistance or provision for those who are less able either to get to Frontenac Mall or to stand there for hours.

The story so far has been a depressing combination of individual selfishness and government ineptitude, and what’s worst of all, it is adding to the (otherwise unjustifiable) cynicism that many people I have heard talking about vaccination feel about it. I am convinced the poor handling of the vaccination process so far will result in fewer people being vaccinated than would have been the case.

- People under 65 with chronic conditions (ie Asthma & other respitory conditions, Diabetes, etc)
- Pregnant women (I’ve been told there are immune issues during pregnancy)
- Children 6 months to under 5 years of age
- Health care workers
- Household contacts and care providers of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines

@ZachR Interesting that you mention a number system. I’ve been told that Public Health in Ottawa have adopted an approach similar to that. You get a number and can wander around.

Thanks for all the responses :)

Just for the sake of clarification, what groups of people fall in the at risk category? Obviously pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems, but does this extend to those 65 and older, and infants/young children? Who else?

I’m completely OK with them only administering 1,500-1,700 vaccines/day – they’ve only got so many people trained to do this sort of thing – and am fine with using the rest of those the next day or the day after. From what I hear, some cities across Canada have yet to receive next week’s vaccines and when this supply runs out, they’re closing clinics. Kingston, meanwhile, will keep vaccinating.

I do think they’ve failed, though, on the at risk prioritizing and their location setup.

On the at risk group: Why aren’t these people being bumped to the front? According to the calendar, this is an 11 week program. Why not dedicate the first two weeks (9 days, they didn’t hold a clinic on the first Monday – that’s 13,500 shots at 1,500/day) to the high risk group. If you’re not a part of that group – or can’t prove it – you don’t get in. The next two weeks (10 days, they skip a Monday this time again, but have a Saturday clinic – or another 15,000 shots) could be, say, those who would be in direct contact with those high-risk people (Their parents, spouses, housemates, children and so on. This second group would be harder to prove, though. This would vaccinate 28,500 people (nearly 25% of the population) – all of whom high risk or in contact with someone who is – in the first month.

I also think the location – or at least the handling of it – is dumb. Let’s take 3,000 people – all of whom are supposed to be high risk for complications arising from the flu, and cram them into a tight space like the Frontenac mall together. Something like the Invista Centre would have been smarter – there’s at least more room out there. Or a ticketing system. If they do 1500 in a day and the clinics run 7 hours (they do), then they do 214 shots/hr – or about 3 and a half per minute (17.5 seconds/needle). If you show up at 11am (1 hour into the clinic – 214 shots given) and grab a number, say, 1,132, they could calculate your approximate wait (your number – shots given * 17.5 would give wait time in seconds; In this example, that’s 16065 seconds – or about 4.5 hours) they could take some time off that calculation to make sure the line is always present and tell you to come back (Say, in our example, around 3:00; 11am + 4.5hrs – 30 minutes). This would work with pre-clinic-opening lines, too.

I’m a 27-year old in decent health and not at risk for complications – so I’m waiting. My housemate, however, is in the high risk group and was in line on day one. I’ll go get mine in about 2 weeks when the high-risk group has had a chance. And if it’s still busy and they’re still encouraging only high-risk folks to go… then I guess I wait longer.

I guess some people just don’t understand basic politeness.

On one hand, I can hardly blame people for worrying. The media have been hammering us with panic and worry for months. So, the clinics open and everybody shows up. A CBC reporter in Ottawa was told that they “couldn’t” turn away people who were there and not in the target groups, but the reporter didn’t say why.

Gemmill has an interesting history in doing what he feels is right and not necessarily what’s in the public interest. Ask him about publicizing restaurant inspections reports sometime. They’re not our business.