Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab. (file photo/CKOM News Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

COVID-19 vaccine update

Vaccines coming to Prince Albert next week; general public to not see vaccine until spring

Dec 30, 2020 | 5:07 PM

The COVID-19 vaccine may be rolling out in Saskatchewan and across the country, but it likely won’t reach the province’s general public until the spring.

That’s what Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said during Wednesday’s press conference. The province will only receive small amounts of the vaccine on a weekly basis until March.

“For the first two or three months, the vaccinations will really prioritize these populations throughout Saskatchewan,” Shahab said. “But we really are hopeful starting in April and May, there will be more supplies of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.”

The province will receive 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Jan. 4. Priority health care workers will have first access to the vaccines. Doses could be allotted to long term care and personal care home staff and residents.

At the moment, the province is wrapping up its pilot project portion of the vaccine rollout plan. Regina received 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, having administered 1,834 as of Wednesday. Saskatoon received 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 21 and another 975 this week. They have administered 1,108 to date.

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Pfizer vaccinations will start ramping up, as the province will receive 6,825 doses each week on Jan. 11, 18 and 25 and have five ultra-low temperature freezers that can properly store the vaccine across the province in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert. Four more freezers will be delivered in the future, making Pfizer available to more areas in the province.

The first shipment of the Moderna vaccine will start coming to the province, with 4,900 doses being expected to arrive by Thursday. Since the Moderna vaccine does not require an ultra-low temperature freezer like Pfizer’s, it can be transported a lot easier. It will be sent to the Far North Central and Far North West regions between Jan. 4 to 11 and will be given to residents and staff of both long term care homes and personal care homes, as well as priority health care workers.

Although some information has come through on the vaccine, Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman challenged the federal government to give more information on how many vaccines the province will receive.

“Saskatchewan is absolutely prepared to meet this challenge, but we need the federal government to give more clarity than they have been for the vaccine doses we will receive over the next few weeks,” Merriman said. “As we said before, Saskatchewan has a great track record for immunization, so we are ready to administer all of the vaccines we get as soon as we receive them. This is how we will protect Saskatchewan people from COVID-19 and move past this pandemic.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW