EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – Health Minister Tyler Shandro provided an update on the province’s vaccines Monday, saying the first doses will be given to health care workers in Calgary and Edmonton starting Wednesday.
Shandro added they expect to get more than 25,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week and plan to have 29,000 health care professionals vaccinated by the end of this month.
“The first real ray of light in the dark night that our health care professionals have lived through for ten months now,” Shandro said.
The focus for the early vaccinations will be those working in long term care homes, intensive care units, and respiratory therapists. These areas are experiencing some of the heaviest strain as a result of the COVID-19 cases in Alberta and it will be essential to provide some security to them.
As time goes on, the government said it will set up further phases of vaccination so the wider population can get the shots.
Right now, the ultra-cold freezers needed to store the Pfizer vaccine are only available in Calgary and Edmonton, but dozens more will be available around Alberta by the end of January.
Shandro said they expect the Moderna vaccine, which is still awaiting Health Canada approval, to come to Alberta in short time as well. The plan is to have the shots into long-term care facilities by Dec. 31 as it doesn’t require the same ultra-cold storage as Pfizer and the province needs to figure out shipping methods.
“We’ve started our planning, because the information we’ve received from Health Canada when we could expect to see an approval being provided some time this month,” Shandro added. “But also, because it is not ultra-cold storage, it doesn’t have the same requirement as the Pfizer vaccine has that we start being able to also distribute it to continuing care facilities.”
Shandro says they have to give the first doses at the site of delivery (#yyc and #yeg) so they cannot give it to long term care homes yet. This is the advice coming straight from Pfizer.
— Tom Ross (@Tommy_Slick) December 14, 2020
These early numbers are encouraging and chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, Paul Wynnyk, said they are ready for the roll out and took some guidance from health officials in the United Kingdom.
“We are truly, truly well prepared. Albertans can be confident that this vaccine is safe and it will be administered efficiently, without compromising quality.”
Pfizer’s data sheet on the vaccine states that even though it must be stored over long periods of time at temperatures of -70 Celsius, it can survive for five days at a temperature between two and eight degrees — which is the same temperature flu vaccines are stored.
By January, there will be 28 ultra cold freezers available to store the vaccine. Over a dozen other freezers ready to hold Moderna vaccine by the end of January as well.
— Tom Ross (@Tommy_Slick) December 14, 2020
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw shared in the expressions of joy about this news, but also wants people to stick to the current health guidelines and focus on bending the curve downwards as soon as possible.
“We are still many months away from seeing widespread protection against COVID-19, which means the steps we are taking now to slow the spread and bend the curve are still critical,” Dr. Hinshaw said.
The province is handling vaccinations in several phases, with the most vulnerable Albertans next in line to get shots, and it will not be available to the general public until much later in 2021.
Hinshaw said that the province will also continue to be conservative on the timelines around when the vaccine will be available, because they must be sure all necessary protocols have been followed.
“Vaccines will be available only when they gone through all of those regulatory requirements, to make sure that we’re only offering vaccines that have met all those standards for safety and effectiveness,” she said. “That would be a best case scenario that many of the vaccines would be available ahead of schedule, but that would something that would be dangerous to count on.”
Right now, don't have the ability to ship the vaccine out of these drop sites, so that's why there's a focus on Calgary and Edmonton immediately.
— Tom Ross (@Tommy_Slick) December 14, 2020
Hinshaw also stressed the vaccinations will not be mandatory, even for health care workers. They have a process laid out so workers can contact their employer and set up appointments for a shot, and while they will be strongly encouraged to get an inoculation there will not be any repercussions for those who do not get it.
Another factor to keep in mind as the early doses get administered is that it will take two separate vaccinations to be deemed safe from the virus, so all of the nearly 29,000 health care workers who get the first shot still need to get another in a month’s time.
