National immunization plan gets a boost

The federal government has set aside $45 million over 5 years to help ensure equitable and timely access to recommended vaccines, and the chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is delighted.

Dr. Victor Marchessault says the initiative, announced in the February budget, will allow intergovernmental discussion to continue toward development of a national immunization strategy. “In the budget it said to improve the procurement of vaccines, so what we're working on is to convince the provinces on a way of introducing the vaccines across Canada,” he says.

He said that it has been difficult to create a national policy because immunization falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction (CMAJ 2003;168[5]: 598). Marchessault would like to see a national immunization registry created, since this would give doctors an “instantaneous response” when they look for immunization records. More than 8 million vaccinations are provided in Canada each year. — Tim Lai, CMAJ