Most Albertans Will Soon Have to Get Out Their Wallets for COVID Shots

In a release sent late last Friday, the Alberta government announced most in the province will soon have to pay to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government cites $135 million in unused, “wasted” vaccine doses in the 2023-24 respiratory virus season, based on an estimate from the US Centers for Disease Control that pegged the cost of COVID vaccines at about $110 (Cdn) per dose.

Seniors in supportive-living environments and people who are immunocompromised will be exempt from the new fees.

The health care system struggles with the cost, suggested Smith, who said during her weekend radio show, “We believe in vaccine choice, but we don’t pay for everything.”

Advocates, however, say the decision is irresponsible and will likely create further strain on a system that is already struggling after recent shakeups by this government.

Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway says the chilling effect of paying out of pocket will further decrease vaccination rates, leading to more hospitalization and emergency room visits.

“They’re putting up all sorts of new barriers to vaccine access. We know the impact of that will be fewer people getting vaccinated, which means we’ll see an increase in people heading to hospitals because they are sick with COVID,” Gallaway told PressProgress. “Which means we’ll see an increase in folks in emergency rooms at a time when our hospitals are already at capacity.”

Gallaway says his organization has been hearing from frontline workers on the current state of Alberta Health Services, noting that the expectation for even health care workers to pay out of pocket comes at a time when the province is struggling to convince health professionals to practice in Alberta.

“We’ve heard from health care workers. They’re mad. They’re being told they’re going to pay out of pocket if you want that protection at work. If more health care workers are off sick, this means closures and struggles to provide care. Also, this means health care workers saying, ‘Maybe Alberta is not the place to work if our government doesn’t believe in science.’”

The first COVID vaccines arriving in Alberta in December 2020. (Photo via the Alberta Newsroom on Flickr)

Gallaway’s point is shared by United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith.

“This is part of an anti-science agenda in the bigger context, and an anti-worker agenda,” Smith told PressProgress.

She believes that shifting the cost onto individuals effectively privatizes a piece of the health system.“People need to speak up and tell Danielle Smith and the UCP to stop pushing the privatization of health and safety on everyone.”

The new immunization program will roll out in four phases this fall, according to the government. In the first phase, vaccines will continue to be available free of charge to seniors in supportive-living conditions. In the second, the province will fund vaccinations for those six months and older who are immunocompromised, have underlying medical conditions, live in congregate settings or who receive social assistance such as income supports. After that, the vaccine will be available to those willing to pay for it, starting with seniors. The cost hasn’t yet been determined.

Emergency physician and health care advocate Dr. Joe Vipond is also concerned about the effect of the new policy on public health.

“Right now, long COVID is one of the biggest causes of disability in Canada, and this is going to make it worse. We know that the vaccine has multiple benefits, which include decreased deaths, decreased hospitalizations, decreased (ICU admissions), so it seems they’re being pennywise and pound foolish,” Vipond told PressProgress.

The wasted millions on vaccines are a problem, Vipond acknowledges, but he believes the solution is to centralize distribution.

“I have sympathies for the fact that they’re throwing out a bunch of vaccines, but the solution isn’t to charge everybody for vaccines. They could figure out processes that improve the utilization of those vaccines,” Vipond says.

“If the problem is that they’re only getting one or two people per pharmacy, you could centralize that process rather than charge people. We have many dedicated public health clinics. You could focus your efforts in those centres.”

Vipond added that a new COVID variant identified in Asia and Europe will likely soon arrive here, which carries a symptom with the unsettling description of “razor blade throat.”

Alberta Medical Association spokesperson Shan Rupnarain tells PressProgress, “Creating unclear policy and barriers to vaccination for high-need groups is counterproductive to public health measures.”

Since Dr. Mark Joffe’s departure from his role as the province’s chief medical officer of health in April, the government has yet to name a permanent replacement.

“We need a structured, substantial strategy that makes it as easy as possible for those who need the vaccine most to get it,” Rupnarain said. “I commend the interim chief medical officer of health for stepping into the role at this time, but this job must be filled on a permanent basis by a public health and preventative medicine specialist who is trained in developing effective, safe, evidence-based public health policy.”

Ricardo Acuña, executive director of the Parkland Institute research centre based out of the University of Alberta, is among those who have accused Smith of having sown mistrust in vaccines during the pandemic, potentially leaving her with some blame for lower vaccination rates in the province.

“This is entirely consistent with a very problematic, anti-science, anti-evidence approach to public health. She speaks of doing this to save $135 million dollars,” Acuña told PressProgress. “She did the work to downplay the vaccination campaigns, and then she says because people are not accessing vaccines, we’re going to make them pay.”