FORT MCMURRAY (660 NEWS) – The rapid-flow vaccination clinic located at MacDonald Island Park in Fort McMurray will be closing its doors on Wednesday night.
Alberta Health Services made the announcement late last week, saying rapid-flow clinics are no longer needed as more and more eligible Albertans are immunized.
The clinic at MacDonald Island will still provide first and second vaccine doses until 8 p.m. on August 11.
After that, immunization services will continue to be provided seven days a week via public health centres, pharmacies, and physician offices.
Vaccination appointments can be booked by calling Health Link at 811, pharmacies or doctors offices directly, or through the AHS online booking tool.
Meantime, the Athabasca Tribal Council has announced that its vaccination clinic in Fort McMurray is no longer necessary and will be closed as of 8 a.m. on August 11.
The organization will continue to offer isolation centres.
“The ATC Isolation Care Centers will remain open to serve community members and their families who have been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19 and are not able to safely isolate themselves at home,” reads an ATC press release.
More information can be found at atcfn.ca.
According to the latest stats, 69 per cent of Fort McMurray residents aged 12 and up have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
In rural Wood Buffalo, that number is quite a bit lower at 50.1 per cent.
When compared to the rest of the province, 76.4 per cent of eligible Albertans have at least one dose while 66.9 per cent are fully immunized.
As Alberta continues to see a spike in COVID-19 infections, cases are still staying low in Fort McMurray.
Active cases in the city have increased only slightly to 25 and there is just a single case in the surrounding region.
Two local facilities remain on the province’s outbreak list: CNRL Albian and Suncor Fort Hills.
The province added a total of 1,017 new cases over the past three days (398 on Friday, 375 on Saturday, and 244 on Sunday).
There are now 3,380 active infections across the province and three more people have died, for a total of 2,328.
Hospitalizations have increased to 129, including 26 in ICU.
