Swine Flu Watch: Ontario Health Minister urges Ottawa to speed up vaccine approval
Ottawa should speed up approval of H1N1 vaccine, says Ont. minister
Ontario Health Minister David Caplan urged Ottawa on Thursday to speed up approval of the H1N1 vaccine amid concerns that a second wave of the swine flu may have already arrived in the province.
Ontario is equipped to deploy the vaccine quickly, but the province can’t get it until Health Canada issues a licence to the manufacturer, Caplan said.
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Dr. Donald Low, head of the public health laboratories with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, said a number of flu cases have come to emergency departments over the last few days.
The flu activity is concentrated primarily in Toronto, Hamilton and London, said Low, who is also chief microbiologist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
He said there have been few cases of H1N1 in Ontario over the last few weeks, but on Monday, six new cases were confirmed.
“But unfortunately, that’s beyond the control of provincial governments.”
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