Changes to Saskatchewan vaccine priority unlikely

Frontline workers in Saskatchewan who cannot do their jobs from home should not expect to get bumped up the queue for a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe was asked by reporters whether there would be a change in the province’s vaccine rollout plan to immunize essential workers.

It appears the province does not have such plans.

“The challenge we have with changing the priority moving forward is it’s going to slow down our ability to deliver the high volume of vaccines that we’ve been able to thus far,” Moe said.

The province is administering doses on an age-based schedule. Moe said by June, everybody who wants a vaccine will have access to one. Straying from that criteria would push back the timeline “until a number of weeks later.”

More younger people are falling ill with COVID-19 due to the spread of new variants of concern, which are more infectious and deadly.

That has some calling for a change in how governments distribute vaccines, to prioritize essential workers.

Prioritizing vaccines for frontline essential workers in #SK is not queue-jumping – we *have* capacity & logistics to do it *alongside* age-prioritization. Big shipments of vaccine are on the way & already here. This is a big win-win for all – we just need the mandate. #covid19sk

— Dr. Alexander Wong (@awong37) April 4, 2021

Moe said vaccinating people by age is the fastest and most efficient way to do it, including for those doing essential work or who might have compromised immune systems.

“At this point in time, what we are focusing on is how can we turn around the comparatively larger numbers of vaccines that we’re receiving today and will be for the next number of weeks,” he said.

“How do we turn those around and make them available to Saskatchewan people as quickly as possible (or) immediately if we can?”