Amid flu panic, Calgary shutters all five of its vaccination clinics due to huge demand
“Don’t panic,” he says. As Alberta’s Health Minister Ron Liepert speaks, Calgary’s vaccination clinics are so overwhelmed that by noon all five of them have closed for the day, to reopen tomorrow, and the province risks running out of vaccine by next week. “By late next week, we’re done,” says Liepert, whose rhetorical repertoire appears to lack any soothing balm. As the Calgary Herald‘s Jason Fekete reports, Calgary’s Richmond Road Diagnostic Treatment Centre closed at 9:50 a.m. after a crowd in the neighbourhood of 3,000 people waited for inoculations. The Avenida Village mall clinic attracted thousands to a queue that reached out into the streets. “We’re closing down clinics today because we can’t keep up,” says Liepert. Could things have been handled differently? Liepert tackles the question head on. “Absolutely. I’m not going to sit here and say it was perfect.”