EDMONTON \u2014 In a partial policy reversal, Alberta’s government said Tuesday it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations for health-care workers.<\/p>\n
Maddison McKee, spokesperson to Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in an email that COVID-19 vaccine coverage will be extended to all health-care workers this fall under the first phase of the province’s vaccination rollout.<\/p>\n
“Immunization will remain voluntary,” said McKee.<\/p>\n
It comes two months after the government said most Albertans, including health workers, would have to pay for COVID-19 shots this season.<\/p>\n
Public health experts and health-care unions called it irresponsible to force front-line workers to pay for protection in the workplace.<\/p>\n
Premier Danielle Smith has said the aim of the new policy is to prevent wastage, after some $135 million was spent on unused doses. She’s also pointed out that other vaccinations come with an out-of-pocket fee.<\/p>\n
The government did not immediately respond to questions about what prompted the shift.<\/p>\n
The Health Sciences Association of Alberta is one of several unions representing health-care workers that have been publicly pressing the government for months.<\/p>\n
President Mike Parker said his members demanded the change at the bargaining table, but the government decided to make it a blanket policy instead. The union reached a new tentative agreement last week with employers on wages and benefits, but it is yet to be ratified.<\/p>\n
“This is both in the interest of our members and the public to make sure that these folks stay healthy and on the job,” Parker said.<\/p>\n
“I’m pleased to see that it’s now going to be inclusive of all health-care workers from the work that we did.”<\/p>\n
Parker said the government’s next step should be allowing everyone to get vaccinated, if they want, free of charge.<\/p>\n
The government hasn’t finalized how much other Albertans will need to pay, but an estimated cost to buy each shot is $110.<\/p>\n
The province said in June those who have compromised immune systems, people on social programs and seniors in congregate settings will be covered.<\/p>\n
Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called on the United Conservative Party government to give the shot to all seniors at no cost.<\/p>\n
“They continue to make this up as they go along. Albertans deserve better than this incompetence and confusion,” he said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Last week, the government opened online pre-ordering for the COVID-19 vaccine alongside flu shots. Albertans still need to book appointments for the shots, starting in October.<\/p>\n
Those who don’t pre-order by a Sept. 30 deadline can still book an appointment once doses become available.<\/p>\n
However, the specifics of the qualifying health conditions for a free shot have not been released.<\/p>\n
LaGrange’s office has said details of the plan are still being finalized — including the updated vaccination schedule, eligible conditions, exact locations and administrative fee for COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
The province said it has ordered 485,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the fall — about 250,000 fewer doses than were administered last year.<\/p>\n
The federal government put provinces in charge of buying COVID-19 shots this year, but Alberta’s COVID-19 policy makes it an outlier.<\/p>\n
The province has said local pharmacies will no longer get a supply of COVID-19 shots, which will only be available through public health clinics through a phased delivery.<\/p>\n
The government has said the new approach would help it better know what to order in coming years.<\/p>\n
Public health-care experts have also said the province’s COVID-19 strategy will create more barriers to getting vaccinated and lead to higher health-care system costs, as more people develop severe complications.<\/p>\n
Critics have also warned that excluding pharmacies from the rollout will limit access for rural residents, shift workers and others who rely on community-based care.<\/p>\n
Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends that all adults 65 or older and health-care workers get the shot.<\/p>\n
Routine influenza vaccines continue to be publicly covered.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2025.<\/p>\n
Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 In a partial policy reversal, Alberta’s government said Tuesday it will cover the cost of COVID-19…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[901,49469,49,48,893,84,38978,49468,392,49467,49470],"class_list":["post-82389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-alberta","tag-blanket-policy","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-government","tag-health","tag-health-care-workers","tag-health-sciences-association-of-alberta","tag-healthcare","tag-mike-parker","tag-premier-danielle-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}