By Alex McCuaig

Letter signed by more than 200 physicians

Docs want health workers treating COVID patients vaccinated faster

Jan 6, 2021 | 5:00 PM

EDMONTON, AB – A group of more than 200 Alberta physicians are calling on the government to prioritize vaccinations of those who work directly with COVID-19 infected patients and support workers in hospital units housing them.

“We could be looking at a couple of months yet – at this point in time – before COVID unit and COVID unit workers get access to vaccination,” said Dr. Greg Hrynchyshyn, one of four co-authors of the letter sent to Health Minister Tyler Shandro on Wednesday and signed by 219 physicians.

The letter highlights the fact most health care and support workers who work directly with COVID patients won’t be vaccinated until Phase 1B of the schedule which is expected sometime in February, depending on if there are vaccinations available.

The letter asks those who are working directly with COVID patients be prioritized alongside those in the first phase of the vaccine rollout, specifically, those in ICU and emergency rooms.

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“We would like to make it clear that whoever signed off on the vaccination priority list has chosen not to vaccinate the very health care personnel who are tasked and make professional and personal sacrifices to look after greater than 80 per cent of all COVID-19 patients,” reads the letter in part.

The full letter can be read below.

It’s an issue Hrynchushyn says government officials may have missed in determining the vaccine rollout priorities.

“You have a dedicated team of health-care professionals who are on the frontlines with this – day in and day out – and their care, their vaccination really isn’t being considered and we don’t understand why that oversight has occurred,” he said.

Fellow co-author, Dr. John Bradley says the doctors are also calling for more transparency on how vaccine prioritization decisions are being made and the criteria that goes into them.

He says the current rollout prioritizes health staff – including nurses, clerks and cleaners – actually working every day with infected patients at the same time as those who may theoretically come in contact with COVID-19.

While the doctors don’t begrudge those who are getting vaccinated, these staff work on units with confirmed cases.

“We felt this was very unfair, particularly for our non-physician colleagues,” said Bradley. “In that spirit, we’ve tried to channel, try to advocate but the reality is we don’t even know who we are supposed to be speaking to or who we are supposed to be writing to.”

Shandro has yet to address the letter but has said the vaccines are being administered as fast as shipments were coming in.