Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the health Minister's statement today on vaccine hesitancy and lowered vaccine rates in the territory. I share the Minister's concerns.
To that end, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister what measures is the Minister putting in place to help make vaccines more accessible and bring vaccine rates up to pre-COVID levels? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with vaccine rates, you know, I mean, it varies across the territory as to where to get vaccines. Most of the health centres are the venue to get childhood vaccines, any vaccines. The community health nurse can give those. In the regional centres, we usually have public health units that do the majority of those vaccines in those regions, and the appointments can be -- you know, accessing those appointments through public health. Within Yellowknife, I know that the public health unit here there were some -- you know, some staffing, and my understanding is that they've recruited and now they have their unit. So they have well child clinics. They have travel clinics for vaccines. We also do vaccines in the schools with school-aged children as there's -- you know, there's vaccines that happen during the age groups that kids are in school. And, you know, they -- and they do provide the information upfront so that they can bring it home, they can get the consent signed. There's -- at a certain age, you know, the teenagers and stuff can make an informed decision to have the vaccine themselves. So there are many, many ways for this. I think the thing that we are trying to stress -- and that's what I tried to stress in my Minister's statement today -- is that online social media and misinformation is being rapidly spread, and we do not want people to think that that is the information. And so if the information is not coming from a trusted health care provider like the Northwest Territories, you know, one of the territorial provinces, you know, I would question it, and I would bring that information and ask questions to a health care provider. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And certainly I appreciate some of the challenges we're facing.
Mr. Speaker, some of the concerns I received when the first flu vaccines went out this year is just that the timing in the territory was a bit late compared to some of our neighbours. The Yukon, for example, had their flu and COVID vaccines out about a month before us. So I'm just wondering if the Minister is looking to expand the availability, extend the timing that clinics are available, just to make it accessible for residents. I know, speaking for myself, the reason I didn't get vaccinated for the flu this year is simply that I wasn't able to find a time I was able to go. So I know that it's not necessarily hesitancy that's preventing vaccination. Sometimes it's availability too. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know we have a lot of things going on in our life and -- anybody, you know, and I'll be the first to say I do not like needles, and I would try and make any reason why I don't want to get a needle. But I always make a priority to get my flu shot ever since I was young. You know, but I think the thing is is that the reason why -- and I'm going back to my public health days -- is that vaccines are -- yes, some areas, they may have released public clinics in certain areas. There were public -- you know, we start in the high-risk areas. When we look at releasing flu vaccine, that vaccine strain is only good for a certain amount of time and we have to -- and our public health -- the chief public health officer and her team try to measure around how that gets rolled out in the Northwest Territories based on activity that's going on and, therefore, you know, if we're -- what happened here is that each community may roll out sooner than some of the capital regions because the access to care is less in those communities. So there might have been rolling out sooner than the clinics that opened up in the capital. And then seniors will go around, and home care will usually go around and do a lot of those vaccines. You know, inpatient, long-term care, those people will get their vaccine first and then the rollout to the public. And it's unfortunate that -- you know, that some people aren't able to get into these clinics, you know, but it's making the time. And maybe next year we'll make sure that I get out there maybe way before and start highlighting those times and where and the places that you can get those vaccines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And really that's what the Minister was starting to touch upon towards the end there is what I was looking for, is just considering that the department is concerned about it and the Minister's concerned about it, is the Minister looking at ways to increase availability knowing that it can be hard to find times in your schedule, etcetera, etcetera, just so that we know that hesitancy -- or sorry, hesitancy is a challenge that we have, but we want to make sure that access isn't. That's the point that I want to make, Mr. Speaker. So will the Minister commit to taking measures, if need be, to increase access for vaccines for residents. Make sure it's easy, that it's available, clinics in grocery stores, schools, etcetera, make it easy for people to access. So just advocating for that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our public health staff are amazing, and they do try to get to everywhere. Here in Yellowknife, they did have in the grocery stores. I mean, I went on Saturdays, they had day clinics here in Yellowknife while I was here and that's where I got my flu and COVID shot. So I think it's -- well, we can look at how we are making sure that that information is -- and as the clinics pop up, you know, sometimes in public health we'll see activity, and that's when people then start to get worried and want their flu shot. And so if we start to see activity, I can bring it back to the department to see if when we start to see increased activity, is there ways that we can, you know, have more clinics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
