What charging for COVID-19 vaccines means for Albertans going forward

Paige Parsons · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 28, 2025 4:01 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

When the state announced that astir Albertans volition person to wage for COVID-19 vaccines themselves going forward, the phones astatine Mohamed Elfishawi's 2 Edmonton pharmacies started ringing.

"People are scared," Elfishawi said during an interrogation astatine his southbound Edmonton location, describing the calls he's had from clients – particularly seniors.

Earlier this month, the state announced it would lone screen vaccines for peculiar high-risk groups: radical surviving successful attraction homes and radical settings, those receiving location care, radical connected societal programs specified arsenic AISH, and immunocompromised individuals.

Everyone other volition person to wage an estimated $110 if they privation the vaccine. 

Accessing the changeable volition besides be more limited: successful the adjacent future, pharmacists similar Elfishawi volition nary longer beryllium allowed to administer them, they volition lone beryllium disposable astatine wellness clinics. 

Alberta's caller way makes it an outlier successful Canada, prompting questions astir wherefore the state has diverged from nationalist recommendations connected vaccines, what the timeline is for rolling retired the caller organisation strategy and whether oregon not the vaccine tin beryllium added to radical wellness payment plans.

Will radical benefits connection coverage?

The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) is already successful talks with employers, seeking to get COVID immunization sum added to radical wellness benefits. 

"But adjacent if they do, what that means is that it volition autumn onto the security companies, which volition mean accrued premiums some for employees and employers," said Heather Smith, UNA's president.

UNA is besides looking into benefits covering the outgo for its staff. If it can't get sorted retired successful clip for the autumn rollout of vaccines, Smith said they program to connection reimbursement for employees who wage to get immunized.

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, said they are exploring options done insurance, but helium has besides written to ministers asking them to reverse the decision. 

"We person argumentation astir this that teachers should get vaccinations provided to them due to the fact that they're moving successful congregated settings with students," Schilling said. "We cognize we person overcrowded classrooms."

Alberta Union of Public Employees vice-president Bonnie Gostola calls the program to complaint for the shots a "slap successful the face" to members moving successful roles similar infirmary porters, housekeeping, and different work roles.

"Workers that hardly marque supra minimum wage — $110 is 1 time wage for those members – it's excessive, particularly erstwhile they are besides liable for looking aft different people," she said. 

Gostola said AUPE has been telling workers this is an occupational wellness and information issue, and that it believes the leader needs to instrumentality connected the work of covering the outgo of vaccines.

Some employers are suggesting different avenues for staff. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said successful a connection that its workers volition beryllium capable to usage their worker wellness attraction spending relationship to wage for the shot. 

A analyzable change

For radical who bash person wellness benefits, getting COVID vaccines added to radical payment sum won't beryllium simple. Alberta Blue Cross – a non-profit security supplier that runs authorities sum programs arsenic good arsenic backstage plans – has been getting inquiries from some employers and program members astir covering the vaccines.

"We are waiting for much accusation connected the COVID vaccines — including the outgo and circumstantial details connected the mode Albertans volition entree and beryllium charged for the COVID vaccine — earlier we tin marque a determination regarding backstage program coverage," said Blue Cross spokesperson Sharmin Nault Hislop successful a statement.

"The alteration is analyzable and determination are a batch of factors astatine play." 

Hislop explained that it's not a elemental interior determination arsenic backstage plans person galore antithetic designs, immoderate including vaccine sum and immoderate that don't. 

The enactment besides has an interior cause reappraisal process that needs to beryllium done to find if and however it tin adhd COVID-19 vaccines to its roster of covered medications. 

U.S. comparison

There is variability successful the types of wellness attraction and medications publically covered province-to-province. For example, shingles vaccines are escaped for older adults successful immoderate jurisdictions but not others.

But changing entree to COVID-19 shots, which were freely disposable crossed the state for truthful long, creates a compelling lawsuit study, said Jamie Daw, an adjunct prof astatine Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

"I deliberation it's not thing that anyone expected entree would beryllium taken away," Daw said. 

"I deliberation that's benignant of portion of this broader speech astir benignant of privatization successful the Canadian health-care strategy much generally, and  however we should grapple with it and what policies and regulations mightiness beryllium needed successful cases similar this."

Daw said that successful the United States, astir 90 per cent of Americans tin inactive get COVID vaccines for escaped — covered by backstage insurance, and Medicare and Medicaid programs. 

Unlike Canada wherever pursuing the National Advisory Committee connected Immunization's (NACI) recommendations connected vaccines isn't required, the U.S. has national regulations requiring that definite vaccines beryllium afloat covered by nationalist and backstage coverage.

Diverging from NACI's recommendations

The state said successful the 2023-2024 respiratory microorganism season, 135 cardinal worthy of doses went to waste. For the upcoming season, Alberta has ordered 500,000 doses – immoderate of which volition beryllium fixed for escaped to the identified high-risk groups, and the remainder disposable for acquisition to assistance Alberta recoup the coast.

WATCH | Alberta ending escaped COVID-19 vaccine shots for astir Albertans:

A connection from Minister of Primary and Preventive Health Services Adriana LaGrange's bureau this week said the determination inactive offers extortion to susceptible Albertans, and takes debased uptake of the vaccine by the wide colonisation into account.

And portion Lagrange's bureau said the state was informed by NACI's recommendations connected vaccines, it decided not to connection escaped vaccines to a fig of precocious risk, precedence groups that NACI identifies due to the fact that of "Alberta's circumstantial needs," specified arsenic uptake trends. 

Those high-risk groups not being offered escaped vaccines see each radical implicit 65, large people, Indigenous people, members of racialized and different equity-denied communities, and health-care workers and different attraction providers successful assemblage settings.

The exclusion of radical implicit 65 is peculiarly concerning to Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specializer astatine the University of Alberta. She said it's a large deviation from NACI's recommendations, which bash instrumentality outgo to provinces into consideration. 

"It doesn't truly endorse utilizing the vaccine precise powerfully from a nationalist wellness position if they're not covering it," Saxinger said.

"That could effect successful a importantly higher fig of radical becoming sick and perchance requiring hospitalization and having terrible outcomes from COVID."