Nova Scotia Swine Flu

I dunno about you, but here it is only Day 2 of the Nova Scotia H1N1 vacination plan and already the places offering the vaccination are reporting that they are overwhelmed......HELLOOOO!!  Do you think that might be because number 1, the officials have done nothing but tell us how important it is to get it....number 2, the news reported a young person's tragic death from swine flu yesterday, and as far as I can see, the officials have underestimated the demand for the swine flu vaccination right out of the starting gate.

Let's hope these first few days are just a warm-up while Nova Scotia's health care professionals get into the groove so to speak and figure out what they need to do to speed things along. But remember....these are folks used to keeping us waiting in emergency rooms. Line-up management is not their forte' 

So...what to do? Well they need to get the young children and families vaccinated against swine flu as soon as possible, but they also need to get the rest of us vaccinated as well. Obviously they need more people to deliver the shots. Their claim that there is enough swine flu vaccination for everyone is fine but only if they have a plan to get it to everyone on time.

I hate to sound critical, and I don't mean to belittle the efforts of the health care folks out there trying their darndest to get this job done. They deserve accolades and they deserve help. They also need some creative thinkers to figure out how to get this done. Why for instance, are doctors only being provided the serum if they ask for it? Why aren't they going to schools and doing the children right in the classrooms. Why not go to businesses as well. And another thing, why are many of the clinics  scheduled through the day, when many folks are at work? Why not get pharmacists to give the shots too?

I think we are going to need to see these clinics set up in more locations, like perhaps shopping malls, large department stores, and lots of them, not just in one location with lots of providers. It seems to me that when it comes to the larger places like Halifax, it isn't going to take much to overwhelm one or two locations. We need lots of locations for swine flu vaccinations. We also need this vaccine in the hands of our doctors so they can give it to their regular patients like the elderly who may not be able to stand in long lines.

If you ask me, this is very close to becoming a fiasco.....we don't want a fiasco with something so serious.

Here is the link to the Nova Scotia Government Swine H1N1 information site Click Here You can get the latest news, information on clinics, and you can submit your questions to be answered on a webcast Thursday October 29th.