Health-care union calls for Alberta government to halt plan to limit free vaccines

A union representing 30,000 health-care workers in Alberta is calling on Premier Danielle Smith’s government to reverse course and provide free COVID-19 vaccines to all front-line workers and any other Albertan who wants the shot.

The Health Sciences Association of Alberta says that is the best way to protect patients, reduce hospitalizations, and keep the health-care system strong.

Smith says the aim of the new policy, announced last week, is to prevent wastage, recover costs, and protect those who need it the most by giving them the COVID shot for free.

However, most Albertans, including health-care workers and seniors who live independently, will have to pay out of pocket.

Dr. Luanne Metz, an NDP MLA in Calgary, says the province is putting up more and more barriers for Albertans and healthcare workers to be able to get the shots.

“Which means we will have more disease, more sick people, more people dying, because there is a significant death rate in the very elderly,” she says. “We’re going to see a bigger impact on our already tremendously overburdened healthcare system.”

The United Nurses of Alberta is also calling on the government to reverse the decision, saying it’s an extremely dangerous policy that will increase healthcare costs as well as put stress on the system.

The group says nurses and other health care workers will have to pay out of pocket just to protect themselves.

“When you have to pay for something, it’s one additional barrier,” adds Metz. “We know that the best way to get preventative medicine out there is to reduce all the barriers as possible.”

The Health Sciences Association of Alberta vice-president Leanne Alfaro says COVID-19 continues to put vulnerable Albertans at risk and vaccines remain the most effective tool for protecting both individuals and broader health system.

She also says workers should not be expected to put themselves in harm’s way without basic protection.

The province aims to roll out the new 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 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.