Despite the current slow down in the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine to Saskatchewan, Swift Current will be receiving their first vaccine doses this upcoming week.
During a COVID-19 update press conference this afternoon, Premier Scott Moe confirmed that doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be delivered for the first time to Swift Current.
“Next week we are expecting receipt of over 12,000 vaccine doses. Just under 6,000 – or 5,850 of those will be Pfizer doses, and they will be distributed to Saskatoon, Regina, North Battleford, Yorkton and Swift Current. This will allow us to continue vaccinating our long term care residents and staff, and others that are over 70 years of age,” Premier Moe announced during the COVID update delivered Tuesday afternoon.
Additionally, 6,500 Moderna doses will be sent to the Far North West, the Far North East and the Northeast regions to provide second shots for people who have already received their first dose, and some will also be provided for the first time to the Central West region to start administering first shots.
While Saskatchewan boasts the second highest per capita rate of vaccinations among the other provinces, the slow pace of vaccine deliveries to Saskatchewan has impacted the delivery roll out plan. The Southwest is one of just three Saskatchewan regions where no vaccine has been delivered.
“Unfortunately today we are virtually out of vaccine, and with no new shipments coming this week our vaccination program will be stalled for the next number of days.”
Moe noted the province has received 32,725 vaccine doses, which has allowed them to deliver 30,367 first doses and an additional 3,713 second doses. Saskatchewan has been able to deliver over 104 per cent of the vaccine they have received by making sure no vaccine goes to waste and all usable vaccine is utilized.
However, the province will all but run out of vaccine in the coming days.
Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone shared that there is a small amount of the Pfizer vaccine left in Saskatoon which will be used for second dose appointments, while less than 1000 doses of the Moderna vaccine are located in communities in the Far North and the Southeast.
Premier Moe said after the short disruption in supply, the province has been assured that Saskatchewan will be receiving the full allocated amount of vaccine they were promised during the first quarter of 2021.
“There’s going to be a lot happen in the next three to six weeks as our vaccination numbers should increase,” Moe said. “You are going to see in the next three to six weeks significant numbers of vaccine arrive, and that’s our hope and that’s what we’ve been told.”
“And I think that’s a number that we want to watch is the percentage of people and high risk people that we are able to access with these vaccines in the next number of weeks.”
