A staff member has been fired after an Alberta Health Services probe into why some members of the Calgary Flames and their families received the H1N1 shot without lining up at public clinics.
"Disciplinary action has been taken, resulting in the dismissal today of the most senior staff member involved," said a statement released by the health board on Wednesday. "An investigation is continuing and may result in further disciplinary action."
"I think it sends the message that this will not be tolerated," said Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert, adding that he does not know who the dismissed worker is, or why he or she decided to approve the clinic — held on Friday at an unnamed health centre — for the hockey team.
Albertans waited for hours in line at mass public vaccination clinics last week.
Top officials said they did not know about the arrangements for the Flames organization until Monday.
"The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment on the part of the staff involved," said Stephen Duckett, president and CEO of the board, in the statement.
"The special treatment … is unacceptable to us and contrary to all of our existing protocols and processes. I apologize for this breach of our duty to Albertans."
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Flowers at the gate of Blue Coat Church of England School in Coventry England Tuesday Sept. 29, 2009, after a pupil from the school died Monday after receiving the HPV1 Cervarix jab. Health authorities launched an investigation Tuesday into the death of a 14-year-old girl who had just received a vaccine for cervical cancer. Natalie Morton died in a hospital Monday, a few hours after being the given the Cervarix vaccine, which protects against two strains of the human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer. She was vaccinated at her school in Coventry in central England.
AP Photo/Rui Vieira/PA
Health officials said Tuesday the batch of vaccine given at the school has been quarantined. A number of other girls at the school reported mild symptoms such as dizziness and nausea after receiving the shot.
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Carolyn Savage, 40, is seen at her home, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Sylvania, Ohio. Savage says a fertility clinic implanted the wrong embryo and that the baby she is about to give birth to is not hers. She and her husband are prepared to give the boy to his biological parents, whom they have met.
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Jennifer Schofield was just 11 days old when she died in November 2006 of multiple organ failure caused by the herpes simplex virus. The newborn was infected by her mother, Ruth Schofield, either through kisses or breastfeeding. "The hardest thing any woman can do is watch her baby die," Schofield told the BBC on Friday.
Manchester Evening News
Schofield, a 35-year-old hairdresser, is campaigning to make other mothers aware of the symptoms of the herpes virus and the dangers it poses to newborn babies. Doctors did not realize Jennifer had the virus until an autopsy was conducted. "She should be here today. It's such a treatable disease. I didn't know what I had," Schofield told the BBC. "It broke my heart to know what she died of." (Sources: BBC, Daily Mail)
Darren Andrews, Manchester Evening News
An inquest in Lancaster, northeastern England, heard that Schofield probably contracted the virus late in her pregnancy. Although she saw her doctor, the virus -- a common cause of cold sores -- is difficult to detect and Schofield had no idea she had it. "If I had known I was suffering from HSV and the risks of being near a newborn baby, then Jennifer could be here today," Schofield said, according to the Daily Mail.
Manchester Evening News
Thomas Beatie, a transgendered man, gave birth to his second child, a son, Tuesday. Here he appears his wife Nancy, left, and daughter Susan Juliette on a German TV show in December. Susan Juliette was born last June.
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The province's top doctors said they're not aware of any other groups getting special arrangements, adding that the vaccine is only available through Alberta Health Services.
"I think we're reasonably certain but again, nothing is 100 per cent. So we have taken every precaution we can to control the supply of vaccine and to just ensure that it goes to our clinics," Dr. Gerry Predy, Alberta's senior medical officer of health, said on Wednesday.
The Flames and their doctors requested the vaccination for their members from Alberta Health Services last week based on information available to them at the time, said team president Ken King on Tuesday.
The team would not have chosen to get the shot had they known there would be a vaccine shortage, King added.
Potential provincial audit
Auditor General Fred Dunn said he's considering auditing the planning, implementation and reporting of Alberta's H1N1 immunization rollout.
Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason asked Dunn to probe the province's management of the program after news of the Flames' flu shots.
It's necessary to look into the adequacy of Alberta's pandemic planning and if any vaccination policies were broken, Mason said at an all-party legislative committee meeting on Wednesday in Edmonton.
Health officials said they were caught off guard by massive lineups at vaccination clinics in Calgary and Edmonton last week. The demand forced an abrupt suspension of the program, because of a vaccine shortage and overwhelmed health-care workers.
Alberta's vaccine clinics will resume on Thursday only for children older than six months and under five years, and on Friday for pregnant women. Other groups will be added depending on the vaccine supply.
'A rumour a day'
Liepert pointed out there are many rumours floating around about the H1N1 shots.
"If there is something that has been substantiated that needs to be investigated we will. But there's a rumour a day. I mean you guys have all heard the story about my family getting to the front of the line and getting vaccinated. Not true," said Liepert.
"[There are] all kinds of stories. We're not going to chase rumours."
Paul Hinman, the Wildrose Alliance's deputy leader and sole MLA, joined Mason's call for Liepert to resign. Hinman called Alberta's vaccination program a "debacle," adding that a new health minister would help restore public trust.
Liepert gave no indication on Wednesday that he intends to quit.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper holds a case of Yuengling beer presented to him outside his home by U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson. The beer was part of a wager the PM had with President Obama on the outcome of the Olympic gold medal hockey game which Canada won.
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