MEMO: Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Orders & Municipal Flu Clinics

TO: Health Care Professionals Who Order Publicly Funded Vaccine

FROM: Dr. Andrea Feller, MD MS FAAP FACPM, Associate Medical Office of Health

REFERENCE: Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Orders & Municipal Flu Clinics

DATE: October 2020

This is a flu vaccine update, as we move more deeply into the ordering and delivery process.

First, please know that we are aware of how challenging the flu vaccine process is, and the Ministry has asked that any inquiries about provincial influenza vaccine supply and distribution be forwarded to them at uiip.moh@ontario.ca. Initial allotments were distributed the week of October 5 to area Health Care Providers participating in the Universal Influenza Immunization Program.

Public health receives vaccine which is then distributed to partners such as all of Niagara’s primary care and Long-Term Care. Pharmacists receive their vaccine through a separate distribution process. Since we have input into, but limited control over allotments and timing, we suggest that prior to completing your subsequent influenza vaccine orders, please consider the following as you estimate uptake at your site.

Please note that orders will be filled based on availability of vaccine and that some orders may need to be significantly reduced based on product availability. The below approaches will help minimize this from happening.

Primary Care Led Community Clinics

Please Note: These clinics are not being organized or run by Public Health.

A primary care initiative is underway where health care providers/organizations and pharmacists are exploring innovative ways to safely administer the influenza vaccine to residents of Niagara. Clinics are being planned for the general population in the following municipalities:

Niagara Falls; Main Contact: frank.ruberto@niagaramedicalgroup.com
Welland (planning stages); Main Contact: Marcel.Castonguay@cschn.ca
Port Colborne (planning stages); Main Contact: taralea.mclean@bridgeschc.ca
Fort Erie (planning stages); Main Contact: taralea.mclean@bridgeschc.ca

Please get in touch with the above contact if you or your office are interested in learning more about these clinics.

Before Placing Additional Influenza Vaccine Orders for your Practice

At this time, Public Health is unable to take your unused influenza vaccine back to use or redistribute. We are exploring this further with the province and if this can change in any way, we will let you know.

To help ensure that vaccine is available to all offices that administer it (and not wasted) please consider the following before placing an order for additional vaccine when you evaluate how much vaccine you require to administer to your own patients:

Pharmacists also offer the influenza vaccine; consider whether your patients are likely to get their vaccine at a pharmacy
Whether there are community clinics happening in your municipality, and if so, whether your clinic will support/promote the community clinic(s) for your patients
The number of patients your office expects to see in-person

Only order influenza vaccine in amounts that you are certain your office can use. Please be reassured that you can always order more vaccine as required.

Additional Information

Guidance for providing the influenza vaccine in the presence of COVID-19 can be found here.
Order additional vaccine using the Seasonal Influenza Order Form
Once details are confirmed, more information about the community-led clinics will be available on our Where to Get the Flu Shot web page.

Visit Public Health’s immunization and vaccine web page for health care professionals or call the Vaccine Preventable Disease program at 905-688-8248 or 1-888-505-6074 ext. 7396 from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Thank you to each and every one of you for the care of your patients.