CALGARY — A Calgary man says he was embarrassed and humiliated after he was turned away from a flu clinic because he has HIV.
The man made an appointment at a Co-op pharmacy, but the pharmacist refused to give him the shot after he disclosed that he was HIV-positive.
He was told that the clinic was not set up for it and that the vaccine could conflict with his medication.
The man told the pharmacist that he wasn’t on medication yet, but he says he was told again that they weren’t set up for it and the shot was denied.
Alberta Health Services says that there is no special setup required to vaccinate someone with HIV.
Co-Op has since apologized to the man and says it’s changing how it does things.
“This is an isolated incident, we are going to be providing retraining to all our pharmacies and making sure the ones currently trained are fully knowledgeable about administering all injections,” said Co-op spokesperson Karen Allan.
AIDS Calgary says it’s pleased with how Co-op is handling this now and also offers regular flu vaccination clinics to people who are HIV-positive.