Provincial government bureaucracy in British Columbia has forgotten that firefighters are 1st responders. The Provincial Health Authority is immunizing the ambulance workers, as they should, but the firefighters who also respond to the same medical emergencies have been bypassed.
The Victoria News is reporting:
This week those eligible for the H1N1 vaccine expanded to include front-line health-care workers, but that didn’t include fire departments, said Shannon Marshall, spokesperson for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
“We have to follow the vaccine sequence in accordance with provincial policy, and I haven’t heard when we will be issuing vaccine to firefighters.”
The local fire chiefs are puzzled over the policy and are wondering aloud why the FF’s are being left out. A spokesman for the Provincial Health Authority met with reporters in an attempt at damage control and said that they don’t have enough vaccine for every 1st responder. He also didn’t know when more would be made available for the fire departments.
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