Cutting-edge technology helping N.S. patients recover from major injuries
The new Upper Extremity Performance Centre recently opened in Halifax. It uses virtual reality to help patients in rehab recovering from life-altering injuries. Andrew Sampson has the story.
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‘$135M worth of wasted products': Alberta premier defends decision to charge for COVID vaccines
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seen in Calgary on Friday, May 16, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh) Danielle Smith defended her government's decision to charge many Albertans for COVID-19 vaccinations, which the province announced late Friday afternoon in a media release. On her Saturday radio show Your Province, Your Premier, Smith said there's too many wasted and unused vaccines due to low demand. 'The sad part was that we threw away over one million doses (in 2023-24) because people just don't want to get the vaccine in the same rates as others (vaccines),' she said. Smith said the delivery system that was used for COVID vaccines at pharmacies created too many wasted doses. 'They were putting it in packs of 10, so if you opened it up and gave one shot, you had to throw the rest out after 12 hours because it would expire so that's why we ended up with so much wastage,' Smith said. 'And it's not (an) insignificant (amount of money),' she added. 'It was over $100 million – I think $135 million (worth) of wasted products." When one caller chided her for spending money on other things rather than on the health of Albertans, she pushed back. 'I can tell you we could probably end up eliminating the knee and hip-replacement surgical waitlist with (the) $135 million that got flushed down the drain last year (with used or spoiled COVID vaccines). 'We're watching what Albertans are doing and what we're seeing is that Albertans increasingly are choosing not to take this vaccine,' she added. Four phases The new vaccine program will roll out in four phases. During the first, only residents in seniors supportive living and home care will be able to get a vaccine for free. The second phase will open provincially-funded COVID-19 vaccines to people with underlying medical conditions or compromised immune systems, people living in congregate living accommodations, people on social programs like AISH or income support or people experiencing homelessness. In the third and fourth phases, all other Albertans starting with those 65 years old or older will be able to purchase a vaccine. 'Cruel' Sarah Hoffman, Alberta NDP shadow minister for health, released a statement calling the decision 'callous' and 'anti-science.' 'It's cruel for the UCP government to put further financial burdens on Albertans who want to protect their health and their loved ones and not get COVID,' Hoffman said in the release. 'If the UCP government was really interested in eliminating waste and protecting the health of Albertans it would be promoting vaccines. That way the supply would get used and we would keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.' Wrong message Lorian Hardcastle, an associate professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law and Cummings School of Medicine, said charging for COVID vaccines sends the wrong message to the public. 'It's problematic that we're switching to a model whereby most Albertans are going to have to pay for the vaccine rather than having it publicly-funded,' Hardcastle said. A container of syringes used to administer Novavax Covid-19 vaccines A container of syringes used to administer Novavax Covid-19 vaccines (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg) 'When we're talking about something that not only has ramifications for an individual, but for the community at large, COVID can affect the immunocompromised, the vulnerable,' she said. 'Of course, people who get COVID end up putting pressure on hospitals and so where individuals are getting vaccinated, not only for their own benefit, but for this public benefit, I think it's particularly imperative that the government pays for that.' She said the government's focus on the cost of wasted vaccines only tells half the story of what COVID can cost a provincial health care system. 'The Alberta government, in talking about the cost of the vaccine, needs to consider not only what they're spending on vaccinating people, but what they then save on the other end, in terms of avoidable hospitalizations, lost productivity -- all of these things, because the vaccine does also have financial benefits because it is preventative.' Cost: TBD Smith said the cost of a COVID vaccine hasn't been determined yet, but won't be as much as the RSV vaccine, which costs $300. One way to reduce costs, she said, will be to administer COVID vaccines at health clinics and not pharmacies. 'We want to make sure that those who want it can get it,' she said, 'but the best way to do it – and limit the cost (to taxpayers) – is to administer it through our public health centres, because we already have the staff there, so we don't have to pay a dispensing fee -- and we can negotiate as low a price as possible, which is what we're going to aim to do." She said the new COVID policy will reflect the province's approach to offering the RSV vaccine but at a lower cost. 'We only make the RSV vaccine available free to those most at risk – so we're taking the same kind of policy approach that we are for RSV and we'll gauge how many people sign up for it and then we'll make a decision if we have to change course in future years. 'But what we can't continue doing,' she added, 'is ordering an excessive number of doses that people don't want and then having them damaged, destroyed, spoiled and then going down the drain – and flushing that money. 'There's too many things we have to pay for in the health-care system and we've got to minimize the amount of wastage that we've got.' With files from CTV's Brittany Ekelund
