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As it stands now, health-care workers on the front lines of COVID-19 may have to wait to get a vaccine.
But that wasn’t the original plan, according to Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Tracy Zambory.
“We had been led to understand that in the original phase, 2a, b and c was where the majority of registered nurses in this province, and the majority of health-care workers, would be vaccinated,” she explained, before saying the province’s decision is against the standards set out by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
“They very clearly state that ‘if all health-care workers cannot be vaccinated in Phase 1, they must be prioritized in Phase 2.’ We are the only province in Canada that is not prioritizing our health-care workers in Phase 2.”
During Thursday’s COVID media update, both Premier Scott Moe and chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab took questions on the matter.
“It’s not an easy decision,” Shahab said before explaining the ideology behind the vaccination by age system the province implemented.
“If we are going to get the high volume of vaccine we’ve been promised in March and April, age-based (vaccination schedule) is going to be the way to go to get people in quickly.”
Both Moe and Shahab said the decision was made based on vaccine availability.
It was noted the vaccine plan could be revised as priority changes through the vaccination process.
Zambory said when she initially heard the news during the vaccination plan rollout Tuesday, it was quite the reaction.
“Shock, followed by anger, actually,” she said. “The fact that all of a sudden … to see this new rollout of a plan, all health-care workers were all shocked.”
The SUN president said there haven’t been any consultations between the union and the government since March 2020.
When it comes to the health-care workers that were left out of the next phase in the process, Zambory said it varies to all workers, including those working in the NICU, to doctors, pharmacists and registered nurses.
Speaking about the registered nurses, Zambory explained the seriousness of being left off the list.
“We are the largest group of health-care providers. Without registered nurses getting timely access to vaccinations, there’s a much higher potential of becoming sick. If all of a sudden there’s a huge loss of registered nurses out of the system … the health-care system ceases to function. And that should concern everyone,” she said.
Zambory called on Moe, Health Minister Paul Merriman and Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone to “re-evaluate the vaccination program.”
“They need to re-evaluate it, and make health-care workers a priority in Phase 2,” she added.
“They don’t have the research and evidence to back up this new vaccination program … It is very troublesome that they, in a very vague way, explained this to us but yet did not come out and say — other than having it hidden in a message in the daily rounds from the SHA — that they were actually changing what they delivered to us in January.”
Zambory warned of exhaustion and burnout with registered nurses across Saskatchewan, adding now they are “disappointed” on top of that due to the Tuesday rollout plan.