More vaccines on the way to Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is about to see another spike in the number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine it receives.

Currently, the province gets about 31,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine each week. But in the coming week, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s chief of emergency operations says weekly shipments will double to about 63,000 doses.

“In June, it bumps up just over 70,000 doses a week. It’s what has been projected,” Derek Miller told Gormley on Friday.

“That’s our planning figure at this point. It’s not confirmed but we’re certainly hopeful that it gets up to those levels.”

Miller added the province received 18,800 doses of Moderna on Thursday, which are now being distributed to rural and remote northern locations.

A shipment from Johnson & Johnson has arrived in Canada, he continued, but the SHA is still waiting for details from the federal government on Saskatchewan’s allocation.

The province is well within its means to deliver these doses, Miller said, with capacity to inject 20,000 doses per day. The past week, there were between 3,600 to 7,500 doses administered per day.

“If we were given the supply, we’ve created the system to be able to manage that and now we have the community pharmacies coming online to support that as well,” he said.

Miller also said he doesn’t know if vaccines by a specific manufacturer will be destined for a mass immunization clinic, drive-through clinic or pharmacy.

“In Saskatchewan, we’ve basically adopted a practice where the best vaccine is the one that you’re offered when you’re eligible,” Miller said.

“And so, from a logistical standpoint, we don’t necessarily know where vaccines are, when they’re arriving and where they’re going until they’re actually there in the clinics.”

In the first week of May, the SHA will operate about 80 clinics in the province, including 11 drive-through locations. That’s in addition to the 63 pharmacies in 14 communities participating in the pilot project.

Drive-through clinics in Regina and Saskatoon are slated to reopen this weekend.

The drive-through in Regina closed April 16 after exhausting its supply of vaccine. It’s to be open Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the International Trade Centre at Evraz Place.

The drive-through at Saskatoon’s Prairieland Park is to be open Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

More information about drive-through and walk-in clinics around the province can be found here.