Ontario’s flu vaccine roll out hit with a glitch that further exposed inefficiencies in the system

A new article in the Toronto Star reported that a glitch in the Ontario Ministry of Health’s distribution data system led to pharmacists being unable to order flu vaccine doses—though the glitch exposed issues with the province’s system that had been frustrating pharmacists all season long.According to the story from the Star, a number of pharmacists who had tried to order flu shots through the province were given a vaccine delivery suspension notice in error. The provincial Ministry of Health said on Thursday that an issue in the distribution data “temporarily caused pharmacies to appear as though they had higher influenza inventory levels than they actually did.” This meant that pharmacists across Ontario were unable to restock on flu shots.While the error has been corrected and affected pharmacies were able to order extra doses, this temporary mistake exacerbated the frustrations Ontario’s pharmacists were already dealing with. The system currently bars pharmacies who have a certain percentage of doses wasted from ordering more. This, in theory, should help cut down on waste and ensure that pharmacists get the right amount of doses. In practice, it just makes things more complicated.The CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association Justin Bates told the Star that the province’s distribution system is flawed. Delivery is “not on-demand and it’s not flexible in terms of being able to order more than you have been allotted,” Bates said to the Star. This leads to a system where some pharmacies have way too many doses while others don’t have enough—despite there being enough supply in the system.Fora Rahmati, a pharmacist in Newmarket who was one of the pharmacists impacted by the data glitch, told the Star that the current system of ordering vaccines is a “very high-transaction one” that leads to a lot of issues: she says that last year, she received vaccines too late in the flu season, after the demand had died down. These doses were eventually wasted and then she cannot get enough doses for this year’s patients based on previous data. Then, she had to fill out extra paperwork, “exception forms,” to receive more doses than that she’s allocated. Kristen Watt, a pharmacist in rural Ontario, wrote in a blog post that “Week after week, Ontario’s community pharmacies are being told that additional vaccine requests cannot be met.” Watt also writes that “patients are paying the price” for the province’s poor vaccine roll out program this year. “All of this increases the burden on an already strained healthcare system. All of this increases the burden on patients who are simply trying to stay healthy. And ultimately, all of this means fewer people will get vaccinated, which leads to increased hospitalization rates, more morbidity, and more preventable deaths.”More than half of Canadian adults (57%) received their seasonal vaccines at a pharmacy during the 2023-2024 cold and flu season. Pharmacies are the most important spot for delivering these seasonal vaccines—as long as pharmacists can do their jobs.

Ontario’s flu vaccine roll out hit with a glitch that further exposed inefficiencies in the system

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