At a Glance / Aperçu

Ontario picks up vaccine tab

Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 155: 742

Ontario has decided to provide free pneumococcal vaccine to 1.4 million seniors and others vulnerable to pneumococcal disease. Over the next 2 years, people in nursing homes and homes for the aged and those with medical conditions that put them at risk will be offered the vaccine; healthy seniors will be offered the vaccine in the program's third year. After that the vaccine will be offered to people as they turn 65 or develop high-risk medical conditions such as chronic heart and lung disease, diabetes, kidney failure and impaired spleen and liver function.

Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, noted that the vaccine, although safe and effective, is available in limited quantities due to manufacturing constraints. "We are buying as much as we can each year, but it's still going to take us 3 years to buy enough for everyone." Revaccination is rarely needed, he added. The cost of one dose -- $13.60 -- is expected to drop shortly.

| CMAJ September 15, 1996 (vol 155, no 6) |