tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Too little information and not enough flu vaccine were both issues encountered by local health officials during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.
The outbreak resulted in 128 deaths in Ontario, including two in Sarnia-Lambton.
It also resulted in long lineups for vaccinations, confusion and anxiety, said Dr. Chris Greensmith, local medical officer of health.
"We had to learn as we were going along and we're still teasing that out," he said. "There were certainly issues around communication."
A recent report from the Public Health Agency of Canada concluded different levels of government worked well together during the pandemic, and the response was better than during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
But the agency calls for better communication from government to the public, media, decision makers and health portfolio staff.
In the early days of the second H1N1 wave in October, demand for the flu shot was high, Greensmith said, but it was two weeks before vaccinations were available locally.
Even then, staff were constrained with limited doses for two months, he said.
"Up until the first clinics opened, the impression we were getting through the media was that we had just developed a mass poison that nobody was going to use," he said.
"On the first day the clinics opened we were overwhelmed with people, with demands. How to better sort that out is an issue, I think, for future consideration."
A county pandemic planning committee has been in existence since 1998, he said, noting it was developed primarily out of concern for H5N1 or avian flu.
...
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2922357
The outbreak resulted in 128 deaths in Ontario, including two in Sarnia-Lambton.
It also resulted in long lineups for vaccinations, confusion and anxiety, said Dr. Chris Greensmith, local medical officer of health.
"We had to learn as we were going along and we're still teasing that out," he said. "There were certainly issues around communication."
A recent report from the Public Health Agency of Canada concluded different levels of government worked well together during the pandemic, and the response was better than during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
But the agency calls for better communication from government to the public, media, decision makers and health portfolio staff.
In the early days of the second H1N1 wave in October, demand for the flu shot was high, Greensmith said, but it was two weeks before vaccinations were available locally.
Even then, staff were constrained with limited doses for two months, he said.
"Up until the first clinics opened, the impression we were getting through the media was that we had just developed a mass poison that nobody was going to use," he said.
"On the first day the clinics opened we were overwhelmed with people, with demands. How to better sort that out is an issue, I think, for future consideration."
A county pandemic planning committee has been in existence since 1998, he said, noting it was developed primarily out of concern for H5N1 or avian flu.
...
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2922357