High demand for private COVID-19 shots sparks supply problems, waitlists for Alberta pharmacies
CBC
Some Calgary pharmacists say they've started waitlists for private COVID-19 vaccines because they can't get their hands on stock as frustrated Albertans turn to them for the shots.
The provincial government is facing ongoing pushback for charging most Albertans for the vaccine and many people have struggled to book through the public system, which has been described as confusing and complicated.
The government-run program is only offering COVID shots at public health clinics. Some high-risk groups are eligible to get the shot for free, while the vast majority of people must pay $100.
Private supplies are also available through pharmacies. And Pfizer Canada, the company supplying that private stock, said it has placed temporary limits on orders due to higher than expected demand.
"It just all seemed to dry up,” said Jason Chan Remillard, pharmacist and owner of the Pharmasave in the northwest Calgary community of Brentwood.
He noticed last week he was no longer able to order COVID vaccine doses after only being able access limited supplies for a number of weeks.
“We've got people on lists waiting for shots. We've got names on shots. We've got names on pieces of paper. It's just crazy," he said.
According to Chan Remillard, many of the people coming into his pharmacy have had trouble booking through the province’s online booking system for public health clinics. And he said others are being offered appointments a month or more away, well into the respiratory virus season.
“[Some] are tired of trying to navigate the system and figure out how to get one through the public system. A lot of people say they’d rather give me $135 rather than give the government $100."
“We've just been receiving calls all day and trying to field these calls and make people understand ... we just can't seem to obtain the vaccine right now.”
When he has been able to order stock he’s been offering the vaccine at cost and waiving the administration fee.
"This is kind of a public service that I feel we're doing,” he said.
Randy Howden is also opting to forgo charging the $20 administration fee at his Medicine Shoppe pharmacies, including the Crowfoot location in Calgary.
"This year has been very confusing and frustrating," said Howden.
Missing baby presumed dead after father charged with killing mother in St. Albert, Alta., police say
A man is facing charges in the death of a young mother in the Edmonton area and the presumed death of their missing nine-month-old daughter.
A school trustee in Prince George, B.C., says she's shaken and scared after being surrounded by police with their guns drawn and then put in handcuffs, in what RCMP say was a case of mistaken identity.
Despite an eleventh hour attempt to secure at least a few more weeks of freedom, a Calgary dentist was handed a three-year prison sentence for a decade-long insurance billing fraud.
Canada Computers & Electronics says a data breach has leaked information about some of its customers, though several say they are unhappy with the scant details the retailer has provided — including how many of them were affected, and when the breach occurred.
The city of Toronto is shutting down a yacht club on the Humber River in Etobicoke that is accused of having negative impacts on the local ecosystem.
Some public safety experts say the N.W.T. government’s failure to regulate the security profession and mandate training for guards is putting people at risk.
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft and says his administration will "decertify" planes made by Canadian aerospace company Bombardier.
A new non-stop route between Calgary and Abu Dhabi is set to launch later this year, becoming the only direct flight from Western Canada to the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. authorities alerted the RCMP about Ryan Wedding's imminent arrest days before he was taken into U.S. custody in Mexico last week, Commissioner Mike Duheme has told CBC News.
Ontario’s police watchdog says it is not investigating the case of a lawyer who is alleging that multiple Durham Regional Police Service officers slammed her head on a desk without provocation and dragged her to the basement cells of the Oshawa courthouse last week.
Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.
Shilo Nosyk was camping with friends and family last summer in Alberta's Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park when her then-15-year-old son's throat started to close.
Daniel Martell, the stepfather of two Nova Scotia children who disappeared nearly nine months ago, has been charged with sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement, CBC News has learned.