N.B. health-care workers 1st to get flu shot
Vaccination clinics will open Monday
Last Updated: Thursday, October 22, 2009 | 11:56 AM AT Comments39Recommend10
CBC News
New Brunswick health-care workers will be the first in Canada to roll up their sleeves and get the swine flu shot starting Thursday.
The Health Department said it will begin by vaccinating those workers who will be giving the shots to everybody else.
Swine flu vaccination clinics will open on Monday, Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health, announced Thursday.
Cleary said that once the health-care workers are immunized, shots will be then be given to First Nation communities and school-age children.
"Clinics will then be extended to other higher-risk groups, followed by the public. We ask for the public's patience and co-operation as we move through the vaccinations of these groups," she said in the release.
Other high risk groups are preganant women and people with chronic illlnesses such as diabetes and asthma.
Clinic listings will be posted online at www.gnb.ca/flu or be available by calling 1-800-580-0038.
The province got its first shipment of H1N1 vaccine Wednesday, receiving 83,000 doses of the 600,000 ordered. Another 40,000 doses are expected to arrive Friday.
"One of the benefits of the vaccinators vaccinating themselves today is that they will be working through the process of mixing the vaccine, making sure we have the flow in the clinics right so when people show up, everything will hum like a well-oiled machine," Dr. Paul Buyunder, deputy chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference.
"So, we think waiting until Monday is very prudent and probably as quickly as we could do this."
Buynder said that pregnant women are advised to wait two weeks before getting a shot because another version of the vaccine is on the way.
Cleary also said that a stock of the antiviral Tamiflu would be released Monday for treatment of those ill with the flu.
"This means that Tamiflu will be available at pharmacies to treat H1N1 flu for all New Brunswickers with a prescription from a doctor, free of charge.
Your physician or nurse practitioner will determine whether antivirals are an appropriate treatment option in your specific case."
The province expects to have the vaccination program completed by December.
Hundreds of retired nurses and nursing students have been hired or reassigned to deliver more than 600,000 shots of the swine flu vaccine, which is enough to inoculate 75 per cent of the province?s residents.
New Brunswick public health officials will give more details Thursday on how the immunization program will proceed. They estimate 30 per cent of the population will be affected by swine flu.
Dates and locations for vaccination clinics will be posted on the government website starting Thursday. There will also be a media blitz launched on television, radio and in newspapers to get the message out that everyone should get a flu shot.
Information sessions
Public information sessions will be held in Saint John, St. Stephen, Sussex and Miramichi over the next few days.
The first session will be held Thursday night in Saint John.
The province?s largest school district, with more than 16,000 students, announced Wednesday that its pupils will start getting the vaccine on Nov. 2.
Gregg Ingersol, director of education for school district 2, said the clinics will move throughout the district's 38 schools until Dec. 12.
Parents are receiving information on the vaccine as well as a consent form to sign allowing their children to be given a shot.
Refer to Health Department information
Ingersol said he's concerned that some people are relying on questionable internet sites for their decision to refuse the vaccine.
"You know young people, they start blogging with each other and talking about it. So, a lot of the information that they're getting may or may not be the right information," he said.
"I would always refer them back to what the Department of Health is saying as their main source of information."
Ingersol said parents with children in kindergarten to Grade 2 will be asked to accompany them for the flu shot.
Teachers will be able to get the vaccine, he said, once all the children in the school have had their shots.
Vaccination clinics will open Monday
Last Updated: Thursday, October 22, 2009 | 11:56 AM AT Comments39Recommend10
CBC News
New Brunswick health-care workers will be the first in Canada to roll up their sleeves and get the swine flu shot starting Thursday.
The Health Department said it will begin by vaccinating those workers who will be giving the shots to everybody else.
Swine flu vaccination clinics will open on Monday, Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer of health, announced Thursday.
Cleary said that once the health-care workers are immunized, shots will be then be given to First Nation communities and school-age children.
"Clinics will then be extended to other higher-risk groups, followed by the public. We ask for the public's patience and co-operation as we move through the vaccinations of these groups," she said in the release.
Other high risk groups are preganant women and people with chronic illlnesses such as diabetes and asthma.
Clinic listings will be posted online at www.gnb.ca/flu or be available by calling 1-800-580-0038.
The province got its first shipment of H1N1 vaccine Wednesday, receiving 83,000 doses of the 600,000 ordered. Another 40,000 doses are expected to arrive Friday.
"One of the benefits of the vaccinators vaccinating themselves today is that they will be working through the process of mixing the vaccine, making sure we have the flow in the clinics right so when people show up, everything will hum like a well-oiled machine," Dr. Paul Buyunder, deputy chief medical officer of health, said at a news conference.
"So, we think waiting until Monday is very prudent and probably as quickly as we could do this."
Buynder said that pregnant women are advised to wait two weeks before getting a shot because another version of the vaccine is on the way.
Cleary also said that a stock of the antiviral Tamiflu would be released Monday for treatment of those ill with the flu.
"This means that Tamiflu will be available at pharmacies to treat H1N1 flu for all New Brunswickers with a prescription from a doctor, free of charge.
Your physician or nurse practitioner will determine whether antivirals are an appropriate treatment option in your specific case."
The province expects to have the vaccination program completed by December.
Hundreds of retired nurses and nursing students have been hired or reassigned to deliver more than 600,000 shots of the swine flu vaccine, which is enough to inoculate 75 per cent of the province?s residents.
New Brunswick public health officials will give more details Thursday on how the immunization program will proceed. They estimate 30 per cent of the population will be affected by swine flu.
Dates and locations for vaccination clinics will be posted on the government website starting Thursday. There will also be a media blitz launched on television, radio and in newspapers to get the message out that everyone should get a flu shot.
Information sessions
Public information sessions will be held in Saint John, St. Stephen, Sussex and Miramichi over the next few days.
The first session will be held Thursday night in Saint John.
The province?s largest school district, with more than 16,000 students, announced Wednesday that its pupils will start getting the vaccine on Nov. 2.
Gregg Ingersol, director of education for school district 2, said the clinics will move throughout the district's 38 schools until Dec. 12.
Parents are receiving information on the vaccine as well as a consent form to sign allowing their children to be given a shot.
Refer to Health Department information
Ingersol said he's concerned that some people are relying on questionable internet sites for their decision to refuse the vaccine.
"You know young people, they start blogging with each other and talking about it. So, a lot of the information that they're getting may or may not be the right information," he said.
"I would always refer them back to what the Department of Health is saying as their main source of information."
Ingersol said parents with children in kindergarten to Grade 2 will be asked to accompany them for the flu shot.
Teachers will be able to get the vaccine, he said, once all the children in the school have had their shots.
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