Marking one year of COVID-19 vaccinations in Saskatchewan

It was a process that took literally seconds at the time, but the first COVID-19 vaccinations done in Saskatchewan were a milestone.

Those first two shots were given one year ago Wednesday — one to Leah Sawatsky, a Regina emergency room nurse, and one to Dr. Jeffrey Betcher, the area department lead for critical care medicine in Regina.

“I felt very privileged, actually, to be at the front of the line. (It was) not something I thought would happen, but I think it was really a defining moment for us in terms of our fight against COVID,” Betcher said Wednesday.

He said he was excited about the shot but a little apprehensive as well, given the good and bad publicity that would end up being around it.

Since that first day, nearly 1.8 million doses have been given out in the province, with about 83 per cent of people 12 and over in the province now considered fully vaccinated.

Sheila Anderson is the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s provincial vaccine chief for the emergency operations centre. Anderson wasn’t involved in the vaccines at the time of the first shots being given, but she said she was watching closely and it was a really exciting time.

The authority had six days to prepare from when it was told by the federal government that the first doses were coming to when they arrived, according to Anderson.

“There was a lot of preparation. We worked really hard those six days to prepare and make sure that we were managing that vaccine appropriately,” said Anderson.

There were regulations around how the vaccines could be shipped and stored, and around even jiggling the doses.

One year later, things are different. Anderson explained the SHA learned more about the stability of the vaccine in that time and some of the restrictions have been lifted.

“Much of the vaccine doesn’t need to be transported in an ultra-frozen state anymore, how long you can keep it in a fridge is extended and so from a logistics and distribution perspective, it has changed significantly since the beginning which has been really helpful in terms of making sure the vaccine reaches every corner of the province,” said Anderson.

For the first few months, Saskatchewan was leading the country in its rollout plan. Anderson said the team set out really clear goals but also adopted a guiding principle that speed matters.

“We talked to our teams about, ‘Every day counts to save lives and reduce the overall impact of COVID,’ ” said Anderson.

That principle was particularly poignant in the beginning of the rollout when the doses were going to the elderly, the vulnerable, and those in the north.

“As soon as we had vaccine that came into the province, we wanted to get it in arms as quickly as possible and often doing that within 24 hours of it reaching the province or reaching a site,” said Anderson.

When Anderson got her shots, she says it felt like the momentum grew up to when she was eligible.

“It was really an amazing experience for me and to see my immediate family get vaccinated as well too — you know, being so close to the campaign and seeing the eligible groups that came before us and how much relief and how excited (they were),” said Anderson.

There is a portion of the province’s residents who either decided not to get a COVID vaccine or haven’t got one yet. Anderson said health officials are still working to vaccinate everyone and teams have dedicated a lot of their time to working with people who are hesitant.

“There’s just been some rally heartwarming stories that have come forward to me about people who — for all sorts of reasons – weren’t getting their vaccine when they were first eligible,” she said. “But with the opportunity to come in and talk to many of our providers or their pharmacist or family physician, they were able to get the information that they needed to feel comfortable to come and get vaccinated.”

Betcher, looking at where the province is now, said he’s disappointed with all the people who’ve decided not to get vaccinated — particularly those whom he thinks should know better.

“That doesn’t do anything to help us overcome this. We have a large number of the population vaccinated but we don’t have enough for us to say that we can put this behind us yet,” said Betcher.

Betcher said people shouldn’t listen to those spreading misinformation for their own ends, but should listen to those in the health authority and those who are in the field and actually have authority to speak about vaccinations.