Some infant vaccines postponed as NWT health officials prioritize flu clinics and COVID vaccines

On October 21, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Board published a public notice online notify Yellowknifers of the service disruption. The notice says the Yellowknife Public Health Unit will have reduced services between October 21 and November 5 to manage the seasonal flu vaccination clinics as well as the COVID-19 vaccination clinics at Center Square Mall.

In a separate notice, the authority said it is making COVID-19 booster injections available to anyone over the age of 50 in Yellowknife.

“Public health will resume routine immunization clinics and services after the seasonal flu clinic in Yellowknife ends on November 5,” the advisory said.

The health authority was unable to provide an interview before press time to discuss the implications of the disruption in service. However, in an email, spokesman David Maguire said no urgent appointments were canceled. He said hours of service would increase after November 5 to ensure that everyone affected by the disruption can be seen in a timely manner.

“The public health team sorted the canceled appointments in order of urgency and rescheduled the appointments as a priority,” Maguire wrote.

Make some noise, say parents

Parents who spoke to CBC News described jumping through extra hoops to get their child’s date rescheduled as quickly as possible. Several of them succeeded, having called their deputies, publicly published on the issue and recalled public health.

Robin Hamilton said she was in shock when health workers announced her four-month-old daughter Madison could not receive her injections as scheduled.

The news came just days before Madison received her rubella, tetanus and pertussis vaccines. Hamilton said he was told the date would be delayed by nearly a month.

“I was very frustrated – almost in a state of shock. I couldn’t believe that a flu clinic was more mandatory than protecting our infants,” she said.

“Even talking about it now makes me very emotional. I started crying quite hysterically on the phone with them, and it didn’t seem like my concerns were being met on the phone at all.”

Hamilton shared his frustrations on a Yellowknife Facebook group and also called his MP. The next day, she received another call from public health and was able to reschedule her daughter’s appointment so that the vaccines could be administered on time.

“I couldn’t believe that you had to do all of these steps just to get her regular date back,” she said.

“I hate to say I was lucky to get her date back, but that’s the statement: it was lucky.”

Marrissa White, new mom to two-month-old baby, said she received a public health call on Sunday canceling her appointment. She said she was told staff had to be redeployed for an influenza clinic.

“They said I would be added to a waiting list, and that was it,” she said, adding that no one could answer her questions about the length of the wait list or the lengths. implications of postponing her daughter’s immunization schedule.

She eventually called public health to try to find out more about the waiting list and was able to reschedule her appointment.

“I really appreciate that they were able to do it, but I don’t know if other moms are trying to do the same,” she said.

“I’m just a two-month-old new mom, so keeping up with this kind of paperwork is difficult.”

When Hamilton posted his experience on the Yellowknife Facebook group page, many parents told him they had been through the same thing. Some people weren’t sure where to turn, while others encouraged those who posted comments on the page to call their elected officials.

Hamilton said the sheer number of people going through this shocked her.

“I got the impression from the comments of a lot of people that a lot of them felt like they were alone – they didn’t realize that a lot of people are also going through this and taking action to to fight for [their] the rights of the child to health, ”she said.

“My daughter can’t speak for herself – I’m her voice. Knowing everything that’s going on out there right now, with COVID, with the flu and everything, and that she wasn’t going to be even lightly. protected for what it should be, it was very upsetting and frightening. “