TORONTO —
A major chain of pharmacies has “temporarily paused” flu shot vaccinations amid supply issues that it says are provincewide.
In a statement provided to CP24 on Monday, Rexall said that it has “communicated to customers and patients that flu shots have been temporarily paused due to supply issues.”
The pharmacy chain says that while “all efforts” are being made to secure additional dosages “promptly” vaccine supply is ultimately “determined and allocated by the provincial Ministry of Health.”
The province has previously said that it has ordered 5.1 million individual doses of the flu vaccine this year, which is a 16 per cent increase on the 4.4 million doses it ordered in 2019.
Demand for the flu shot, however, has went up significantly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in some shortages.
Justin Bates, who is the CEO of Ontario Pharmacists Association, told CP24 on Monday that there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of people looking to book an appointment to get their flu shots at pharmacies compared to last year.
He said that the “unprecedented demand” is a “good problem to have” but has left many pharmacies scrambling to get their hands on enough dosages to continue offering the flu shot.
“There are very complex supply chain challenges and right now pharmacies have run out of the vaccine,” he said. “I know that Public Health Ontario is liaising with the Public Health Agency of Canada to try to get more doses into Ontario from the federal stockpile and that is going to be really critical because right now we have seen 4.8 million of the 5.1 million ordered already distributed out to the providers.”
Province has said shortages will be ‘temporary’
It should be noted that the province has maintained that any supply issues with the flu shot will be “temporary” and result from potential gaps in the delivery schedule.
That said in an interview with CP24 earlier on Monday, infectious disease specialist Dr. Issac Bogoch did express skepticism about whether everyone who wants to get the flu shot will be able to.
“I think at the end of the day, I’m still not entirely sure if everybody who wants a flu shot will get a flu shot. I certainly hope that’s the case but I think it’s clearly going to take time and a little bit of patience,” he said. “We’re not seeing influenza just yet but that means we should still be getting our flu shots and preparing for it and I think this is time to continue to check in with the pharmacies in your area, with your primary care provider because it looks like we’re seeing a staggered approach. We are seeing boluses of flu shots coming in and they’re being administered, they run out and a week later they get more, they’re administered, they run out.”
In addition to the shortages experienced by pharmacies, demand for appointments to get the flu shot at Toronto Public Health clinics has also been high.
Those clinics are now booked up until at least Dec. 8.
