GETTING FLU SHOT LIKE FINDING NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — Getting a flu shot is harder than finding a needle in a hay stack.

Shortages this fall at pharmacies and doctors’ offices that have had residents scrambling to get on multiple call-back lists are being blamed on a provincial back-log.

“It’s a bloody mess,” says Tony Varney, a retired pharmacist who’s “never seen anything like it.”

He said Ontario “went cheap” when ordering this year.

MPP Norm Miller said in October — when asked by MuskokaTODAY.com — that the province did order extra.

But that doesn’t seem to the be case if you ask around — as we did.

Erin Eiter-Corcelli, manager at the uptown Pharmasave, says her supplier only comes through with a limited quantity of dosages each week.

She said supply depends on how many her pharmacists dispensed since the last time she ordered.

Pharmacist Clarissa de Peralto, who runs the Pharmasave at the Muskoka Wharf is in the same boat.

Some weeks it’s as little as 20 vials.

“I’ve got a waiting list of three pages long with more than 100 names,” she said recently.

The extra-strength version for seniors is particularly difficult to come by.

Pharmacist Simon Lu, at the Shoppers Drug Mart, said he got a good shipment early on this fall and is slowly working his way through a list of requests.

But he said he’s been busy in the meantime keeping up with an average of about 10 COVID test swabs per day.

Meanwhile, Muskoka doctors and medical practices have been trying to play catch-up, holding their own flu clinics in Bracebridge and Huntsville the past two weeks.

A free public walk-in vaccination clinic put on by local paramedics takes place tomorrow at the arena in Gravenhurst.

In Gravenhurst, residents have been forced to rely on a free public flu vaccination clinic tomorrow, Dec. 3, at the Centennial Centre arena.

The walk-in  is being run by Muskoka paramedics vaccination clinic in Gravenhurst from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

All visitors will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms prior to entering the main entrance of the Centennial Centre. Face coverings will be mandatory, and hand hygiene stations will be available and clearly marked.

Pharmacist Clarissa de Peralta, at the Muskoka Wharf Pharmasave, injects MuskokaTODAY.com reporter Mark Clairmont with the basic flu shot. She says she is like most others having a hard time getting enough supply to fill long waiting lists, especially the extra-strength version for seniors.

Email mark@muskokatoday.com or news@muskokatoday.com

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