Pregnant women in Peel Region may be wondering why they’ve been left off the list of high-priority people put to the front of the line to get the H1N1 flu shot.
Expectant mothers are included on the priority lists in every other region in the Greater Toronto Area, except Peel. The public health unit there instructs pregnant women and children between the ages of six months and a year – also considered high-priority in other regions – to go to their doctors for the vaccine.
"It's a highly technical reason. It's to do with paperwork essentially," revealed Dr. David Mowat, Peel's Medical Officer of Health.
"If they get in touch with us we will make sure that they are referred to a doctor who will give them the vaccine."
CityNews called every obstetrician and 225 family physicians in Mississauga. Of those, 111 GPs said they would provide the vaccine to patients but haven’t received it yet.
Physicians across the province have bemoaned the process in which they must obtain the vaccine, and many family physicians aren’t offering it because of that.
The provincial health ministry Wednesday announced changes to the system. Previously, doctors had to order the shots in 500-dose lots.
The ordering requirement and the heavy paper work that accompanies it discouraged many family doctors from handing out the shot. Only 500 of 4,000 physicians in Toronto signed on.
The vaccine and adjuvant are in separate vials when delivered, meaning mixing the shots is a lengthy process for doctors.
"Some people think it's money. I don't think it's about money," said Dr. Doug Mark, a general practitioner and president of the grassroots Coalition of Family Physicians of Ontario.
"I think it's come down to the process, that it's very cumbersome and time consuming for doctors.... The government is making things just too complicated and doctors, we're just throwing up our hands in the air and saying: 'You do it."'
"That's what a lot of doctors are saying."
The ability to order vaccine in smaller batches may change that.
With files from the Canadian Press