Hockey players jump the flu queue – and land on thin ice

Pregnant women, young children, people with underlying health issues – and hockey players?

Canada's national pastime has elbowed its way ahead of the groups considered most at-risk of serious illness or death from the H1N1 flu virus. Ranging from minor leaguers in Moncton to pros with the NHL's Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs, players are jumping the queue and getting the shot.

Some teams are defending the action, with the Maple Leafs saying it received vaccine through “normal distribution," as any other doctor's office might have.

Elsewhere, however, outrage has spilled over. An Alberta government official identified only as “the most senior staff member involved" in the Flames vaccination was fired Wednesday, five days after players and their families were offered the shot at a private clinic. The province said the “special treatment" was “unacceptable." It also emerged Wednesday that players for the Flames' minor-league affiliate were offered the shot.



New Brunswick's medical officer of health also said last night the minor-league Moncton Wildcats erred in vaccinating its team last week.

Most teams have denied the action is queue-jumping, saying the athletes are high-risk. Teenager Evan Frustaglio, perhaps Canada's highest-profile H1N1 victim, had played a hockey tournament over the weekend before his death early last week.

“While all professional athletes are considered high risk to exposure and transmission of the flu due to excessive contact with other players, heavy travel requirements and public exposure, only certain players and staff have received the H1N1 vaccine," a Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment statement said.

But Canada's chief public health officer refuted that, saying there's a difference between being at high risk of getting the flu, and of it causing serious illness or death.

“We have focused the priorities of who is to be immunized first based on who is at greatest risk of severe disease and dying, not on who is more likely to be exposed," David Butler-Jones wrote in an e-mail to The Globe. “Otherwise, school-aged kids would have been the first priority."



Biomedical ethicist Arthur Schafer agreed.

“Athletes are absolutely not at greater risk. Athletes share a locker room, but so do school kids in gym and in the classroom, and so do children in daycare centres," said Prof. Schafer, director of the University of Manitoba's centre for professional and applied ethics.

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