Alberta to start charging for COVID-19 vaccines in the fall

Alberta will begin charging most residents for COVID-19 vaccines later this year.

In a statement released Friday, the province says they will be rolling out a COVID vaccine program in the fall and any people who are not immunocompromised or on social programs will need to pay for the shot.

The new program will be rolled out in four phases, with seniors in supportive living getting access to the vaccine first and for free. In the second phase, the shots will be available for those with underlying health conditions for free.

The final two phases are where people will need to pay the full cost, but the province has yet to determine what that will be. Phase three will be for Alberta 65 and older, and phase four will be for the rest of the population.

The vaccines will only be available through public health clinics, and no longer through local pharmacies.

The province says it has ordered nearly half a million COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming respiratory season and some of the estimated $49 million cost will be covered by people paying for their shots.

The move follows changes to the federal COVID-19 vaccine procurement process, where provinces are now responsible for buying their own vaccines for residents.

“In previous years, we’ve seen significant vaccine wastage,” reads a statement from the province’s Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange. “By shifting to a targeted approach and introducing pre-ordering, we aim to better align supply with demand – ensuring we remain fiscally responsible while continuing to protect those at highest risk.”

The province claims around one million vaccines were wasted in the 2023-24 respiratory season and the U.S. Centre for Disease Control estimates it costs $110 per vaccine dose.

Starting on Aug. 11, Albertans will be able to pre-order vaccines through the province’s vaccine booking system. Residents will get a reminder text or email instructing them to book their immunization appointment in early October.

The province says people who book their vaccine appointment for the 2025-26 fall/winter will also be able to pre-order for the following season.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s (NACI) vaccine guidance recommends that seniors who are 80 years and older, residents of long-term care homes, and adults and children six months and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised should get two doses of COVID-19 vaccine per year.

It is also recommended that all adults 65 years and older, health-care workers and people at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness should get one shot a year if they’ve previously been vaccinated.

Expert says decision will lead to fewer vaccinations

University of Calgary health law professor Lorian Hardcastle said there are a “number of concerns” with the government’s decision to charge for the vaccine, with one major consequence being that fewer people will get vaccinated.

As a result, she said she expects hospitalizations and doctors visits to increase, which would actively work against the government’s stated goal of cutting costs and reducing waste.

“When we look at preventative measures like vaccinations, often there is a good business case for providing those publicly,” she said.

“If you avoid a few people having ICU stays as a result of contracting COVID or developing very severe COVID, that’s a lot of vaccines that ICU stay will pay for.”

Hardcastle said the move is another in a long list of decisions made by Premier Danielle Smith’s government that send the wrong message when it comes to vaccines, noting Smith said at her first press conference as premier in 2022 that she thought unvaccinated people were the “most discriminated group” she’s seen in her lifetime.

“If you compare last cold and flu season, the messaging from our government around flu shots, COVID shots, it was a lot weaker than what we saw from other places,” Hardcastle said.

She also pointed to Alberta’s growing measles outbreak — which this week surpassed its highest case total in nearly 40 years — and how when cases started rising the government “for many days was rather silent on that issue and wasn’t encouraging people to go out and get vaccinated.”

“I worry that this is going to further push that message that I think this government has both actively and passively pushed, which is that vaccinations just aren’t that important,” she said.

Hardcastle also said Alberta’s the only province that has publicly announced it planned to charge for the COVID vaccine.

LaGrange’s office said in a statement emailed late Friday night that vaccine orders are based on factors that include uptake, wastage and the number of Albertans likely to be at risk for severe outcomes.

“This includes following national guidance that no longer recommends routine COVID-19 vaccination for healthy, non-senior adults — due to lower risk of severe illness and strong population-level immunity,” the statement said.

It said no changes to other immunization programs, including for influenza or RSV, are currently being considered.

LaGrange’s office did not answer questions about why the province was ordering fewer COVID vaccines than were administered last year, or if health-care workers will need to pay out of pocket as well.

NDP calls decision to charge Albertans ‘cruel’

Opposition NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman says charging Albertans for a COVID-19 vaccine is “cruel,” and will only further the financial burden on those who want to protect their health and their loved ones.

“It’s dangerous, it’s callous, it’s anti-science and it’s anti-public health,” Hoffman said in a statement.

She added that if the United Conservative Party government wanted to eliminate waste and protect Albertans’ health, it would better promote vaccines.

In the 2024-25 respiratory season, about 700,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered. The vast majority were dispensed at pharmacies.

Provincial data says since last August, 368 people have died as a result of contracting COVID-19. Alberta’s respiratory dashboard says two people are currently in hospital with the illness.