Alberta Premier defends province’s quieter fall immunization campaign

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defended the province’s pared-back fall immunization campaign on Thursday and encouraged people to speak with their doctors about vaccines, while her Health Minister acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of Albertans are without family physicians.

Earlier in the day, The Globe and Mail had reported, based on internal government documents, that the Alberta government had directed Alberta Health Services, the provincial health authority, to remove the words “influenza” and “COVID” from advertisements for the immunization campaign. The documents, obtained through a freedom of information request, also showed that Ms. Smith’s government had limited the information the province provided the public about vaccine benefits and efficacy.

The Premier said there are “lots of avenues” for people to get medical advice. “I don’t think they go to politicians to get medical advice, and I’m certainly not going to give it,” she added.

Ms. Smith made her remarks at a news conference with Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, where they were announcing $200-million in funding from a $1.1-billion bilateral agreement signed earlier in the day with Ottawa. The money is intended to support doctors dealing with overflowing hospitals amid a surge in respiratory illnesses. At the same news conference, Ms. LaGrange said roughly 700,000 Albertans don’t have access to primary-care providers.

Neither the Premier nor Ms. LaGrange denied that the provincial government had requested the changes to the immunization campaign, which Alberta runs annually in the fall.

Ms. Smith won the leadership of the United Conservative Party last year in a campaign focused largely on her opposition to Alberta’s pandemic public-health restrictions.

She has voiced skepticism of vaccines, promoted alternative treatments, and has not been forthcoming about her own vaccination status.

When asked on Thursday if she stands behind her government’s approach this fall, she noted that Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccination rate is on par with the rest of the country. She did not address Alberta’s influenza vaccine coverage of just 22 per cent – the lowest in more than a decade.

When asked if she could point to evidence showing the government’s modified vaccination campaign had been effective, she did not answer the question directly. Instead, she read from a September news release announcing the immunization program. “I think that the message is pretty clear,” she said.

The documents obtained by The Globe showed that this news release underwent significant revisions before being shared publicly. The changes removed details about vaccine eligibility, age-specific immunization locations and the efficacy and types of vaccines being offered this season.

Ms. LaGrange said Alberta has moved from a pandemic state to what she called an “endemic state,” and that all respiratory viruses should be treated in the same manner. “So, the language and the documentation and the communication has to be in alignment,” she said.

Paul Parks, president of the Alberta Medical Association, also spoke at the news conference. He said the new funding announced Thursday is an “essential first step” toward fixing what’s wrong in health care. But he pushed back against the Premier’s comments on vaccination. “I don’t want to debate which province has better influenza immunization rates,” he said.

He stressed that vaccines protect people and the entire health care system. He said Alberta hospitals are overflowing with patients sick with respiratory illnesses, largely influenza, and that the cases are severe. “We’re seeing two-year-olds out there now that are getting influenza and having encephalitis, which is an infection of the brain that may actually be life-threatening, and if they survive they may never be normal again,” he said, adding that some adult patients may require heart transplants because of organ damage from the virus.

After Dr. Parks had spoken, Ms. Smith stepped up to the microphone. “I’m not a doctor. So, as I’ve said, everybody should talk to their family doctor about the choices right for them,” she said. When asked why the province’s influenza immunization rate is so low this year, she responded, “I don’t know.”

David Shepherd, the Alberta NDP’s health critic, said at a separate news conference on Thursday that the UCP’s decisions on vaccine messaging are putting Albertans at risk. He said a vigorous immunization campaign could have saved lives and money, by decreasing pressure on hospitals.

“Everything we’re seeing in health care right now – patients being cared for in hallways, triple-bunked rooms, delays to kids’ chemotherapy treatment, the chaos, pressure and indignity to patients and health care workers – is because the UCP has chosen to let things get worse than they had to,” he said.

Mr. Shepherd accused Ms. Smith and Ms. LaGrange of being more concerned about losing political ground with vaccine skeptics who support them than they are about everyday Albertans.

He noted that Albertans have not heard from the provincial chief medical officer of health, Mark Joffe, throughout the current crisis at hospitals. He also underlined that Ms. Smith had dismissed Dr. Joffe’s predecessor, Deena Hinshaw.

“This is a government with a repeated pattern of working to take control over public health,” Mr. Shepherd said.

“And that includes, it seems, communication and messaging.”

Premier Danielle Smith said there are ‘lots of avenues’ for people to get medical advice. ‘I don’t think they go to politicians to get medical advice, and I’m certainly not going to give it,’ she added.