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Alberta government looking to ease concerns over vaccine wait-times

A health-care worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a UHN COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Toronto on Thursday, January 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

CALGARY (660NEWS) — Wait times are a part of the process.

That’s the message coming from the Alberta government after issues were raised about some Albertans having to wait in line for their COVID-19 vaccination appointment.

“There are no shortages of the vaccine for those appointments,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Friday. “If you made an appointment there is a vaccine for you.”

READ MORE: Thirty-two new cases of B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant, 8 additional deaths

Shandro also tried to put the entire process into perspective in comparison to other parts of the country.

“We’re also providing vaccines for these folks much more quickly and before other provinces are for people that are 75 and older. There are some provinces that haven’t even started for 85 and 80 or older yet, so this is because of our quickness in Alberta.”

Alberta Health Services (AHS) also made a request for anyone having to wait in line for their appointment.

AHS said some people were showing up 30 to 60 minutes before they needed to be there which contributed to the long lines.

More than 114,000 appointments have already been booked.

The Alberta government said it broke a record Thursday, administering more than 11,000 vaccine doses.