Vaccination clinics in Ontario start to close their doors
November 30, 2009
The time to roll up a sleeve to get an H1N1 flu shot is coming to an end at some public clinics in Ontario.
Some health units are seeing a drop in both H1N1 activity and demand for the swine flu shot and plan to wind down their mass vaccination clinics now that the Public Health Agency of Canada has declared that the peak of this second wave of the H1N1 flu may have passed.
Hamilton's last date for its mass H1N1 vaccination clinics will be Friday, although residents can still get the swine flu shot from their family doctor or through the city's regular immunization clinics.
"We've seen a drop in the number of people visiting our clinics so we will be looking at the more traditional routes available for vaccinations such as family doctors and walk-in clinics," Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, said in a statement.
H1N1 activity is down in Hamilton, but officials still encourage people to get vaccinated, she said.
In Stratford, the Perth District Health Unit plans to close its public H1N1 clinics on Tuesday.
Toronto Public Health is still seeing a steady stream of people wanting the flu shot. It closed two clinics on Sunday that have had a drop in attendance, but its eight other clinics will stay open until mid-December.
"We are still vaccinating around 7,000 people a day at our clinics," said spokeswoman Susan Sperling.
Toronto Public Health said it will monitor attendance daily to determine the final day of the other eight clinics.
In Ottawa, there are no immediate plans to close mass vaccination clinics but the health unit continues to monitor demand closely and will adjust clinic hours accordingly, said Dr. Isra Levy, medical officer of health.
"Ottawa Public Health continues to see interest from the public for the vaccine and we continue to vaccinate several thousand people each day at our clinics," said Levy.
Ottawa will promote vaccination well into the new year. The vaccine will protect people when they gather for parties and other festivities as the holiday season approaches, he said.
H1N1 activity may be slowing down in the community, he suggested, as fewer schools are reporting higher absenteeism rates, and patient levels in Ottawa hospital emergency rooms are returning to normal.
Clinics will run through Dec. 8 in Windsor-Essex, which has been vaccinating more than 1,000 people a day, said that region's medical officer of health Dr. Allen Heimann.
However the clinics are transitioning to give the seasonal flu shot, he said, as the area experiences a decline in H1N1 activity.
"That's certainly the trend across the province," Heimann said.
Niagara Region will decide whether to extend its clinics past Friday after assessing last week's demand.
It's been vaccinating more than 1,400 individuals per day but has seen a drop in lab-confirmed cases of H1N1, and school absenteeism from the flu is also decreasing, said Niagara Region Public Health spokeswoman Carrie Beatty.
"The Niagara Health System continues to see patients with flu but the numbers have dropped significantly since the H1N1 outbreak began in late October," said Niagara Health System spokeswoman Caroline Bourque Wiley.
Ontario has had 95 lab-confirmed H1N1 deaths since April.
Canadian Press
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