No travel vaccines in Yellowknife over holidays as staff shortages lead to service reductions

Public health in Yellowknife is reducing some services over the holiday season due to staffing shortages. 

According to a notice Wednesday from the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, there will be no appointments for travel vaccinations until at least Jan. 6.

Most travel vaccines are needed weeks before a trip, meaning many people leaving over the holidays have likely already received them. 

"This reduction of services will impact some currently booked appointments. If you already have an appointment booked, you may be called to cancel. A wait list of all cancelled appointments will be created and will be a priority to rebook once available," the notice reads.

In an email, Krystal Pidborochynski, director of communications and public affairs for the health authority, said this service reduction is happening in order for other services that are essential to keep operating.

"Vaccination for non-essential travel is not considered an essential service, as they are not critical for immediate health needs," Pidborochynski wrote. "Any mandatory vaccines can still be accessed."

Pausing preventative measures a concern

Dr. Katharine Smart, a pediatrician in Whitehorse, said it's concerning that shortages in the N.W.T. are affecting important things like vaccines.

"I think it's alway concerning when we see stoppage of preventative health services," she said. 

"We know that money invested in prevention always pays off in the long run." 

While travel vaccines aren't essential, she said she worries families may just stop trying to get vaccines if the process is difficult.

"It sends a message that it's not that important," she said. 

"Ease of access is critical for any vaccination program."

Though these are the latest health service reductions in the N.W.T., staff shortages have been a challenge for N.W.T. health services for years, including over the holidays in 2021, when the obstetrics unit at Stanton Territorial Hospital closed down for months.

This fall, the Inuvik obstetrics unit has been plagued by closures due to a lack of staff. The health authority has already announced that the unit will suspend services again from Dec. 15 until at least Jan. 11. 

Dr. Kathleen Ross, a family physician and the past president of the Canadian Medical Association, said every reduction has an impact on people.  

She said the reductions are also an example of what is happening across the country. With many reductions often coming around the holidays, she said most of Canada's health care system doesn't have redundancies built in place.

"This just points again to how fragile our health-care system has become, when Canadians cannot access the basic foundational primary care services that we need in our public health system and in our primary care workforce," she said. 

In a statement to CBC News, N.W.T. Health and Social Services Minister Lesa Semmler said the territorial government knows how important it is to address the health-care staffing shortage.

"Recruiting and retaining health-care staff has been a significant challenge for systems across the country for many years now," she wrote. 

"With such a large demand for a limited pool of professionals, our ability to compete for staff is impacted, which could affect our ability to deliver services at times. This possibility — and reality, in some situations — is very unfortunate."

Semmler pointed to work the territorial government has done in recent years to close that staffing gap, including working with staff, the Union of Northern Workers, and a council of N.W.T. health officials to address some of the reasons it has been hard to retain staff.

She said the territorial government has also been working to support more N.W.T. residents who want to go into a career in health services.

She said the government plans to release a strategy in 2025 that will in part focus on retaining staff.