Province’s vaccination program back on track, says premier

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe acknowledges that the province got off to a “sluggish” start to its COVID-19 vaccination program, but will soon catch up on administering doses.

As of Monday morning, Saskatchewan had administered 7,929 doses out of 17,575 doses delivered, or 45.11 per cent. Nationwide, 60.3 per cent of doses have been administered.

Speaking to Gormley on Monday morning, Moe said the province would receive 30,000 doses in January, 60,000 doses in February and 100,000 doses in March, with the shots being given as doses come in.

“It’s not acceptable at this point to have anywhere under 1,000 vaccinations a day as we go through January,” Moe said.

The premier blamed “logistical challenges,” such as how the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine needs to be kept at ultra-low temperatures. Moe said the province used portable freezers to get the vaccine into remote locations.

He said inoculations are now happening at over 1,000 per day, which needs to continue.

“We’ve found our pace here now in the province,” Moe said.

Very soon, Moe predicts vaccine deliveries will not be able to keep up.

“This conversation is going to change as we get into February because we still don’t have access to a large enough number of vaccines to really get into the broader public,” he said.

“We’re still going to be very, very challenged in the first three or five months of this year to provide access to a vaccine to everyone that would choose to have one. And that is just simply a function of the global vaccination stocks and where Canada has lined up, as far as procuring this vaccine in the early days.”

Later Monday, the provincial government provided an update on vaccine distribution in its daily COVID-19 report.

The total number of vaccinations stood at 8,948.

To date, there have been: 2,069 doses and 1,230 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered in the Regina pilot program; 2,847 Pfizer doses in Saskatoon; 613 Pfizer doses in Prince Albert; 596 Moderna doses in the far northwest zone; 134 Moderna doses in the far north-central area; 1,071 Moderna doses in the far northeast zone; and, 388 Moderna doses in the northeast zone.

“The province is expecting 6,825 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 5,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine to arrive this week; the confirmed date of arrival and distribution locations will be announced this week,” the release added.

Also Monday, the government said the Ministry of Health has been given more guidance from Pfizer about its use. According to the government, that vaccine will be going into long-term and personal care homes and clinic locations in the communities where Pzifer is being distributed.

That approach is to start in Prince Albert right away.