REGINA -- Although questions still hover over when a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready for distribution in Canada, the province rolled out its plan for how it will be delivered to the public when the time comes.
The province’s Vaccine Delivery Plan is a phased approach to distribution, one that plans for a pilot of the vaccine delivery to take place before the new year.
The province said the first phase of the plan will include a focus on “targeted vaccination of priority populations” with widespread access to the vaccine as the target goal for the second phase.
“Residents of this province can rest assured that our government will dedicate all the resources needed to provide them with the vaccine,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a news release.
PILOT
The province expects vaccines for roughly 1,950 people will arrive in Saskatchewan by Dec. 15. The first doses of vaccine will go to healthcare workers in ICUs, emergency and COVID-19 units at Regina’s Pasqua and General Hospitals. Some quantity of the immunization will also go to staff of COVID-19 testing centres.
Recipients of the pilot will receive a second dose 21 days following the first dose, during Phase 1.
PHASE 1
Phase 1 will focus on “immunizing priority populations who are at a higher risk of exposure to the virus or more at risk of serious illness,” the province said in a news release. This includes healthcare workers, elderly care home residents, people over 80-years-old and those in remote northern communities. The province expects this part of the plan to begin in late December, and anticipates 202,052 doses of the vaccine in the first quarter of the new year.
PHASE 2
This part of the plan is expected to begin in April, and is expected to provide widespread access to the vaccine to the general population. Vaccination will occur across the province in clinics and other sites.
The province also said the plan includes a “significant public relations campaign to ensure accurate and timely information is provided to the people of Saskatchewan.”
