The Alberta government is facing fierce and mounting opposition to plans that will reduce access to publicly funded COVID-19 vaccines in the province<\/p>\n
The province announced late on Friday<\/a> that it will limit funding of the COVID-19 shots to very specific high risk groups<\/a>, including Albertans living in care homes and group settings, those receiving home care, people on social programs such as AISH, and immunocompromised individuals.<\/p>\n Seniors living in the community, pregnant Albertans and health-care workers will have to pay out of pocket for the vaccine, along with the rest of the population.<\/p>\n The province estimates the cost at $110 per dose.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dominant emotion is sadness because of the people who are going to be affected by this misguided policy,\u201d said Dr. James Talbot, a former provincial chief medical officer of health.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is saying if you want to prevent yourself from getting a serious illness and the serious consequences that go with it, if you have money you\u2019re fine. If you\u2019re a member of the working poor or a single parent family, you\u2019re out of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Alberta government is facing fierce and mounting opposition to plans that will reduce access to publicly funded COVID-19 vaccines in the province<\/p>\n The province announced late on Friday<\/a> that it will limit funding of the COVID-19 shots to very specific high risk groups<\/a>, including Albertans living in care homes and group settings, those receiving home care, people on social programs such as AISH, and immunocompromised individuals.<\/p>\n Seniors living in the community, pregnant Albertans and health-care workers will have to pay out of pocket for the vaccine, along with the rest of the population.<\/p>\n