Emergency room doctors and nurses in Canada are growing increasingly frustrated that many of them have yet to receive a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Amanda Dodge McLean, a registered nurse in Sarnia, Ont., received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Feb. 26 and was scheduled to receive the second dose on March 27, but the appointment was cancelled.
To date, she has not been rescheduled.
“It's frustrating because you know you could be better protected for myself, my family, my 16-month-old son, my autoimmune-disordered husband, my parents who are my childcare, who are in their 60s,and for all my patients,” she told CTV News. “It doesn't feel right.”
On March 3, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended extending the interval between doses from three or four weeks -- depending on the vaccine – to 16 weeks so more people could receive a first dose and spread the protection as much as possible.
Dodge McLean is now into week 11 of 16, and not having access to the second dose is weighing on her.
“While you’re working, I don't think it's first and foremost, our patients come first, but absolutely it's on your mind, it adds to the heaviness, everything feels a little more heavy,” she said.
“It compounds … especially if you've had a case where we resuscitate somebody and you find out later, they're COVID positive or they unfortunately passed away and they had COVID.”
Dodge McLean said patients she’s cared for are often shocked to hear that she is not fully vaccinated yet.
“I think patients also want to know that the health-care provider that's providing them care at close contact … are fully vaccinated and protected, such that they can keep their patients protected,” she said.
Dodge McLean isn’t the only front-line worker who feels left behind in the vaccine rollout.
On Thursday, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), Canadian Union of Public Employees, Service Employees International Union and the Ontario Nurses Association called for health-care groups to receive second dose prioritization.
“You are exposed during a 12-hour shift ... to very ill patients that are COVID positive in emergency departments, in critical care units, in ICUs,” RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun told The Canadian Press. “One shot is not enough.”
According to the CTV News vaccine tracker, nearly 1.2 million Canadians had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccineas of Thursday evening, while 384,589 Ontarians have received a second dose, though it’s unclear how many of them are health-care workers.
-- with files from CTV News and The Canadian Press --