Why does this suggestion make so much sense?
I'm sure Doctor Graham saw a dozen patients today at her clinic in Port Aux Basques who may of been at high risk for developing complications from influenza. If she could of administered the H1N1 shot to those patients and it might of made a difference in a few ways. They would of not had to go wait in a line for one. Advice from a family doctor is much more appreciated then from a Health Care person in an assembly line type situation scurrying to administer the next dose to another person. Yes, this suggestion makes so much sense. Mr. Kennedy,are you listening to your Doctors?
A physician in Port aux Basques, western Newfoundland, says her patients should be able to receive H1N1 influenza vaccinations at her office instead of only at specialized clinics.
"We find it very frustrating as physicians," said Dr. Wendy Graham. "We'd like to be a part of the program. We don’t want to see any current vaccine that exists in our province sit in the refrigerators for months. We've been asking to be a part of this program. We'd like to get vaccine into our patients as soon as possible."
She said many doctors have cold storage, and they already administer several types of vaccine.
Graham says the association that represents Newfoundland and Labrador physicians is lobbying the provincial government to get doctors involved in the vaccination program, which is targeting the strain of H1N1 influenza A causing the current swine flu pandemic.
Nurses employed by regional health authorities in Newfoundland and Labrador have been giving residents shots at designated centres throughout the province.
The province is trying to make sure that the vaccine if first administered to health workers, people at high risk for developing complications from influenza and those who care for people who can't get vaccinated.