How Alberta plans to roll out COVID vaccines
By GILLIAN SLADE on January 2, 2021.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Alberta Health Services has developed several phases and criteria for rolling out the COVID vaccine over the coming months. By the end of the day on Dec. 29 AHS had administered 8,544 doses of the 42,250 doses that have arrived in Alberta. In December the focus for AHS was on acute care sites with the highest COVID-19 capacity concerns in Edmonton and Calgary, according to a new website devoted to the vaccine rollout. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was approved by Health Canada on Dec. 9 and the Moderna vaccine on Dec. 23, 2020. On Dec. 14, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced that the first 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived in the province and were in eight of the special extra cold freezers required for storage. Medical staff were being contacted to arrange to receive the first doses in Calgary and Edmonton. On Dec. 22, Shandro announced that a second shipment of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived in the province and of that Medicine Hat and Brooks would each receive 975 doses. Alberta Health confirmed that the province had already received a total of 25,350 Pfizer vaccine doses. On Dec. 29, the government announced that 16,900 doses of the Moderna vaccine had arrived in the province, bringing the total number of vaccine doses in Alberta to 42,250. The 975 doses of vaccine earmarked for Medicine Hat were dispatched after the announcement on Dec. 22. The next day, in a surprize announcement, AHS said the first COVID-19 vaccination in Medicine Hat had been given to Dr. Byron Hirsch, family physician. The decision was made not to allow media to be present. In January, depending on supply, AHS says the vaccine will be offered across the province to respiratory therapists, staff in ICUs, staff in long-term care and supportive living facilities, home-care workers and workers in emergency departments. The residents (not only workers) in long-term care and supportive living places, regardless of their age, will also be addressed in January. In February, depending on supplies, there will be a focus on seniors who are more than 75 years of age, regardless of where they live. Also part of this cohort will be people who are more than 65 years of age living in a First Nations community or Métis Settlement. Health care workers in medical, surgical, COVID units and operating rooms will also be part of this phase. For six months, from April to September, the focus will be on seniors more than 75 years of age no matter where they live. In the fall of 2021 the plan is to roll out the vaccine to the general public. AHS specifically says these phases could be adjusted as required depending on supplies of the vaccine. https://www.alberta.ca/covid19-vaccine.aspx 18-17
