(File photo/CKOM News staff)

By CKOM News

Merriman: Changes to appointment eligibility, vaccination locations coming soon

Mar 19, 2021 | 12:41 PM

Less than a day after Saskatchewan started Phase 2 of its vaccination program, Health Minister Paul Merriman is hinting at more changes in the coming days.

Merriman joined Gormley on Friday for an update on how the plan is progressing.

“We’re starting to move very quickly in our age groups. We’ve been able to get into this a little quicker than we thought, which is a very good situation for the people of Saskatchewan,” Merriman said.

On Thursday, Phase 2 began by allowing anyone 67 or older to book a vaccine appointment. Merriman said more people will be eligible for vaccine appointments as early as Saturday.

“We don’t want to overwhelm the booking system. We’ll be moving into the next age category fairly quickly,” Merriman said, noting new categories will be added once an age category sees an 80 per cent uptake in bookings.

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More than 40,000 health-care workers were eligible to be vaccinated as part of Phase 1. Merriman said more than 55 per cent have received the first dose, with 34 per cent now fully vaccinated.

After the United States announced it would send 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines to Canada, the province is planning to open multiple vaccination sites in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Yorkton when shipments arrive in mid-April.

“Because AstraZeneca is unique among the three vaccines that we have on the ground, we’ll be looking at a couple of options,” Merriman said, hinting the drive-through clinic at Evraz Place in Regina which started administering the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday will continue into the foreseeable future.

“Or potentially (we’ll be) moving the AstraZeneca out through pharmacies, just because it is easier to handle and it is like a typical flu shot — something that the pharmacies are very familiar with.”

Allotted 15,500 AstraZeneca doses earlier this month, Merriman didn’t say how many doses remain at the drive-through.

With the vaccine rollout being contingent on shipments arriving internationally, Merriman warned changes to the plan have been made and will continue to be made on a near-daily basis.

“We want to make sure that vaccine arrives exactly when the federal government (says),” he said. “If it doesn’t, then it causes us to move around our appointments a little bit or rejig the system.”