Vaccine delay may have led to flu deaths: Swann

Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann is standing by recent comments he made about how the rollout of the province's H1N1 vaccination program may have created delays in getting the vaccine to high-risk people, resulting in deaths.

"I'm saying this may have contributed to increased death rate and hospitalization rate in this province and there's a long tradition of ministerial responsibility," Swann said Monday.

As of Monday, Alberta has reported47 deaths and 1,042 hospital admissionslinked to swineflu since the start of the outbreak in April.

Swann is asking for numberscomparing death rates for high-risk people who received the vaccine and for those who didn't.

Unlike other provinces, Alberta offered the vaccine to the general public when it launched its vaccination program on Oct. 26.

High demand created lineups as long as four hours at some clinics, prompting criticism that high-risk groups, like those with chronic medical conditions, weren't getting timely access to the vaccine.

Shortage raised concerns

The province temporarily shut down the clinics on Oct. 31 amidfears of a national vaccine shortage. When the clinics reopened, the province rolled out vaccinations in stages by gradually addinghigh-risk groups.

The program reopened to the general public on Monday.

Swann criticizesHealth Minister Ron Liepert for the strategy. While Liepert was unhappywith Swann's comments, he didn't demand an apology or a retraction.

"I think that there are things that happened that if we had to do it all over again, there are some things we'd do differently,"Liepert said."I believe there are also some things that have been said over the past four or five weeks that, if people had to do it all over again, they'd do it differently."

On Monday, the rollout of vaccines to the general public appeared to go smoothly, withminimal waits for shots at clinics in Edmonton and Calgary.