Province’s latest vaccine plan creates ‘state of chaos,’ doctor says By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2021

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This article was published 09/03/2021 (1389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg doctor says the province has created the most chaotic system possible for giving a limited quantity of COVID-19 vaccines to the most at-risk Manitobans.

“We’re in a state of chaos,” said the doctor, who asked not to be named over concerns his criticism would impact his patients’ access to care.

“It’s just done in what I consider to be the least efficient manner possible.”

Manitobans with specific medical conditions to get first round of AstraZeneca vaccine

Posted: 1:18 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2021

Manitoba has prioritized some adults with specific health conditions to get the first shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19.

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On Wednesday, Manitoba launched a site listing specific health conditions that will be prioritized for adults to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, a small quantity of which arrived this week.

The site indicates the clinics welcoming appointments for the shots, which will be doled out based on the province’s list of prioritized conditions.

The doctor said he consented to have his clinic take appointments, but expected more advanced warning on when that would happen.

He said he got an automated email from Manitoba Health Wednesday morning — only a few hours before the vaccine plan was announced — that 50 doses would be arriving in two to four days, and that the public would be told within hours that they can phone the clinic to request an appointment.

“Our staff didn’t know what the hell was going on, because nobody had informed us,” said the doctor.

He said the email had no phone number listed for any provincial official, so his clinic contacted Doctors Manitoba for help.

The lobby group said Wednesday there have been preventable issues with the rollout.

“Today’s announcement about clinics and pharmacies has caused some confusion. Some of this could have been avoided with more planning and communications, so physicians were better prepared to answer calls from patients,” wrote spokesman Keir Johnson.

Clinicians are supposed to figure out whether a patient’s health condition meets the province’s priority list — then which patients need the vaccine the most.

“The flexibility and the benefit for Manitobans to be able to meet with their trusted health-care provider, have that conversation and to have an individual assessment just really outweighs the potential inconsistency that we might see,” Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead for Manitoba’s vaccine rollout, told reporters Wednesday.

“Today’s announcement about clinics and pharmacies has caused some confusion. Some of this could have been avoided with more planning and communications, so physicians were better prepared to answer calls from patients.” — Keir Johnson, Doctors Manitoba spokesman

She acknowledged patients might get miffed at seeing clinics offer shots to different types of people. “That’s going to be frustrating for some Manitobans, absolutely,” she said.

The physician who spoke to the Free Press said about 6,000 patients at his clinic are eligible for shots under the province’s new priority lists — yet it’s only receiving 50 shots to start. That means staff have to decide who is most at risk.

“There are literally a hundred different ways of doing this, all of which are more efficient than this,” the doctor said.

He also doesn’t know if the province wants him to book appointments for other doses, without knowing when they’ll arrive.

“I’m a practicing physician and I have lots of sick people to look after too. I still have my ongoing clinical concerns to attend to,” said the doctor.

Pharmacists told media they had similar concerns.

But a Manitoba Health spokesman said that’s not the full story.

“The complaints you reference from a very small number of individuals do not accurately reflect the views and outcomes of several weeks of collaborative preparation we have undertaken with key physician and pharmacy stakeholder groups, including the regulatory bodies,” the spokesman wrote to the Free Press.

“This work included developing processes for physicians and pharmacies to express interest in providing the vaccine and registering to do so, as well as sharing information about the immunization program and how it would work.”

“The government has recognized that Manitobans want to be able to access the vaccine from a physician they can trust, and we commend them for that.” — Keir Johnson, Doctors Manitoba spokesman

The provincial spokesman said Reimer will likely hold a call with clinicians Thursday evening to go over concerns.

Doctors Manitoba stressed that this is a pilot project, and expected issues to be ironed out soon.

“What’s most important is that Manitobans will be able to access the vaccine in a doctor’s office, something that isn’t yet an option in some other provinces,” Johnson wrote.

“The government has recognized that Manitobans want to be able to access the vaccine from a physician they can trust, and we commend them for that.”

Pharmacies say they’re also pleased to have helped the province craft the pilot.

“Pharmacists Manitoba has been consulted in our government’s very quick and responsive efforts to enable pharmacists to participate with the addition of more COVID-19 vaccination strategies,” wrote organization head Pawandeep Sidhu.

“We are pleased that pharmacists have been engaged in supporting vaccination strategies that enable Manitobans to get a vaccine from health-care providers they trust and are accessible for care.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca