Nova Scotia is offering drive-thru COVID-19 and flu vaccines at Dartmouth General Hospital, but it’s unclear whether New Brunswick has any plans to provide a similar service.
The Nova Scotia health authority says up to four people inside a vehicle can be vaccinated during a single appointment. They must all be over the age of 12.
One person can make the appointment for all four people. The drive-thru operates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Harold Taylor, Nova Scotia Health’s director of the central zone’s COVID-19 response, said the vaccination drive-thru has been “very well received,” with appointments booking up since it was announced earlier this week.
People are “very happy to see … this service,” he said.
“There’s folks so far that are telling us that … with mobility issues [or sensory issues], this makes it much easier for them to book an appointment and to be able to attend that, as opposed to going into a normal clinic or local pharmacy.”
Harold Taylor, director of COVID-19 response for Nova Scotia Health’s central zone, says the Dartmouth General Hospital drive-thru was used for COVID-19 vaccinations before as part of mass immunization clinic in 2021. (Submitted by Harold Taylor)
There’s no parking, no navigating through buildings, no standing in line, and no contact with other patients.
If the high uptake continues, Taylor said the service might be extended to include Saturdays or Sundays — “again to be more accessible to the general public.”
That was one of the biggest drivers behind the decision to offer the service, he said.
While most health zones closed their COVID-19 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing drive-thrus, Dartmouth General switched one of its winterized drive-thru units over to blood collection in 2021, which has proven “quite popular,” he said, and maintained the other one for testing.
Testing numbers have, however, started to decrease. The current volume of booked and drop-in PCR tests do not support the need for a stand-alone testing centre, said Taylor.
Drive-thru blood collection continues at Dartmouth General Hospital, says Taylor. (Dave Irish/CBC)
“We will be looking to integrate that service within N.S.H. as many other provinces and locations have also done,” he said, noting the drive-thru, constructed out of shipping containers in the parking lot of the adjacent business, Auction Advantage, was intended to be temporary.
But “while these [drive-thrus] are still up and running, at least until the end of fiscal year ’24, we figured we could capitalize on it and flip over some of those services to be able to do the vaccine clinic,” with PCR testing now on alternating days.
“The transition was pretty seamless.”
Helps eliminate barriers
Haley Flaro, executive director of Ability New Brunswick, which helps people with mobility disabilities navigate the community and be as independent as possible, loves the idea of drive-thrus for vaccination and testing. They help eliminate barriers, she said.
“Many [people] decide against services due to lack of accessible parking, steep ramps, lack of curb cuts at drop-offs,” among other reasons, said Flaro.
Haley Flaro, executive director of Ability New Brunswick, says drive-thru services provide an accessible option for people with mobility issues. (Radio-Canada)
A drive-thru is also a “quiet option for those with sensory disabilities or mental health difficulties,” she said.
In addition, it “reduces the risk of catching colds, the flu and other infections in populated medical facilities.”
New Brunswick Department of Health spokesperson Sean Hatchard did not respond to requests Thursday or Friday for comments about whether the province plans to offer a similar service, or is considering it.
Taylor said “there’s certainly value” in offering drive-thrus, particularly for the type of patient population that can be best served by these types of clinics.
“I know that as we do our evaluation that’s going to feed into how we do future planning around some of this stuff.”
We’re always going to be looking to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of these types of services, particularly across other service delivery.— Harold Taylor, Nova Scotia Health, central zone director of COVID-19 response
The Dartmouth General vaccination drive-thru is not a pilot, per se, he said, but Nova Scotia Health is interested in exploring what else the drive-thru model could be used for.
“We’re always going to be looking to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of these types of services, particularly across other service delivery,” said Taylor.
“So having these kind of designs set up so that we can kind of flip the service from blood collection to testing strategies — whether that be, you know, flu, measles or even immunization. It’s having that flexibility and adaptability to be able to make some shifts.
“That’s a huge positive piece of what we’ve been able to see in this particular design.”
Pop-up clinics are another option
Taylor noted drive-thrus aren’t the only option. Nova Scotia Public Health also offers pop-up clinics in various communities. Although these mobile clinics are usually held in community centres and fire halls, they’ll often accommodate people who are unable to get out of their vehicles, he said.
“So there’s other ways to be able to do some of the similar, I guess, service-delivery models.”
For the Dartmouth General drive-thru, located behind the hospital on Mt. Hope Avenue, people can book an appointment online or by calling 1-833-797-7772.
Anyone who has had a previous reaction to immunization, such as fainting or anaphylaxis, should not use the drive-thru option, the health authority advises.
Large trucks, high-sided vehicles or motorcycles are not permitted. Clinical staff must be able to reach people’s arms to administer the shots while standing outside the vehicle.
People cannot leave their vehicle during the appointment and no pets are not allowed, only registered service animals.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
