Alberta to begin charging residents a fee to get the COVID-19 vaccine

Albertans who want to continue to protect themselves from the COVID-19 virus will have to pay out of pocket for it, the province announced late Friday afternoon.

Since December 2020, the federal government had been looking after procuring and buying the vaccines, which the Public Health Agency of Canada said was unique to the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other routine immunization programs — which are paid for by provinces and territories.

This year, the COVID-19 vaccine procurement process shifted from a federal role to provincial and territorial procurement process  ahead of the fall 2025 respiratory virus season, to align it with other how other immunizations are delivered for diseases that are endemic around the world, such as the flu.

As a result of the federal change, the Alberta government is passing the cost onto most Albertans who want to be immunized.

“It’s cruel for the UCP government to put further financial burdens on Albertans who want to protect their health and their loved ones and not get COVID,” said Sarah Hoffman, the Opposition NDP shadow minister of health.

““It’s dangerous, it’s callous, it’s anti-science, and it’s anti-public health.”

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The vaccines will still be covered by the province for select groups of high-risk individuals such as seniors, people who live in congregate living, those with underlying medical conditions or are immunocompromised, and Albertans who require social support such as AISH or are homeless.

In addition to adding a fee, in most cases the COVID-19 vaccine will only be available through public health clinics and pharmacies will no longer be administering the vaccine.

While the province said work is underway to determine what the final cost will be per vaccine, it noted the U.S. Center for Disease Control estimates a cost of $110 per vaccine dose.

“The cost to taxpayers for the COVID-19 vaccine should not exceed $49 million, much of which will be offset through cost recovery in phases 3 and 4,” the province said in its news release, explaining the COVID-19 vaccine program will be rolled out in four phases, beginning with the…