Alberta government boosts access to COVID-19 vaccine, following cancellation concerns

Update, Oct. 20: Late Friday afternoon, the Alberta government announced it will increase a limit on the number of vaccine doses pharmacies can order every week.

In a statement a spokesperson said Alberta Health has received a new shipment of COVID-19 vaccines and, as of Monday, the cap will be boosted to 350/week from 100/week.

"This increase will help ensure that pharmacies have more doses on hand to administer and will allow for an increase in appointment availability at pharmacies across the province," the statement reads.

The extent to which this increase will address supply concerns is unclear.

Our previous story published early Friday is below:

Less than a week into Alberta's COVID-19 immunization campaign, there are concerns the rollout isn't keeping up with demand.

The updated XBB.1.5 shots started going into arms on Monday, but a limit on vaccine distribution means some people are facing cancelled appointments.

Jessy Roos, a pregnant Calgarian and mother of four, was eager to get her updated COVID vaccine. She was worried about rising transmission rates.

"I especially don't want to put my baby at risk," Roos said.

She was booked into a Calgary pharmacy for an appointment on Friday but received a text the day before calling it off.

"It's really frustrating. It feels like it shouldn't be this difficult to take care of myself," she said.

"We love personal responsibility in this province and I'm trying to take all the personal responsibility to protect myself, and the process to do that is just unreasonably difficult at this point."

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Alberta pharmacies are allowed to order only 100 doses a week, for now, according to Alberta Health.

At the Crowfoot Medicine Shoppe in northwest Calgary, pharmacist and owner Randy Howden says that's enough to last him about a day.

"Having to tell people that we don't have a vaccine for them has been very frustrating," said Howden, who is also president of the Alberta Pharmacists' Association.

"It would be really nice if there was a process in place where pharmacies could apply for additional vaccine doses and justify their needs and be able to get an extra allocation."

According to Howden, the impact of the cap will vary depending on the store.

"For busier pharmacies, it has a huge impact. Not having enough vaccine means we're not able to book as many appointments as we would like to to help meet the demand that's there in the community."

Calgary's Cambrian Pharmacy is busy, too.

Pharmacy manager Mathieu Giroux already has over 200 people on his waitlist.

"So at 100 a week, that's still another two full weeks of people that are on standby right now," he said.

"The demand that we're seeing for this round of COVID vaccine is definitely higher than previous booster rounds."

No shortage, province says

The province is cautioning there is no shortage of the XBB.1.5 vaccine.

"However, initial limits are placed to ensure an equitable distribution across the province and to limit waste," Alberta Health spokesperson Andrew Livingstone said in an emailed statement.

"Pharmacies should be booking appointments to meet their on-hand supply. We understand that some pharmacies over-booked."

The limit is in place for 14 business days, according to the province.

"Those pharmacies offering the vaccine to Albertans should make sure they set up their appointment availability based on their supply to ensure they aren't having to cancel appointments," said Livingstone.

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According to Health Canada, Alberta has requested and received 1,047,710 doses of updated COVID-19 vaccines (696,350 doses of Moderna and 351,360 doses of Pfizer).

"Canada has access to sufficient supply of the new formulation of mRNA vaccines to support provinces and territories in their administration of fall 2023 campaigns," a statement reads.

Meanwhile, one of the main distributors, McKesson Canada, confirmed it now has both the Moderna and Pfizer formulations in stock.

"The Moderna vaccine has been available since ordering opened last week. There may have been initial or temporary delay as we received first shipments and distributed allocation in real time," a statement reads.

"The Pfizer COVID vaccine is available for order as of [Thursday] and pharmacies should receive delivery this week."

According to McKesson, if a pharmacy requires more vaccine than the allocated amount, it should contact Alberta Health.

The province did not say if it is making exceptions.

Noting the limits are in place for both COVID and influenza vaccines, it said demand is not higher than expected, and, starting next Thursday, it will share data on doses administered through its respiratory virus dashboard.