Manitoba is piloting a new process to increase the number of immunizations they can give in a day.

Currently when people go to a super site to get their vaccination they move between a registration area, to a waiting area, to the immunization room and then to an observation area. The person administering the immunization is responsible for preparing the injection, injecting the patient and then updating the patients immunization records.

Under the new process, different staff members would have different roles and the patient would not move between areas as much cutting almost 20 minutes out of the procedure. In the new way of doing things, staff would be assigned to reconstitute and fill the needles with vaccine, while other staff would administer the injection then others would check and update immunization records.

Besides decreasing the time required for each inoculation it is beneficial for people who have mobility issues.

The province expects the new process to vastly increase the number of vaccine doses that can be administered in a day.

“We have learned from the success of our Focused Immunization Teams and from other jurisdictions to develop this model,” said Health and Seniors Care Minister Heather Stefanson. “They divide up different tasks to make things run more quickly and efficiently, particularly when FIT members visited each patient in their room at personal care homes and other congregate living facilities. The goal is to expand that success on a larger scale. This will allow for more rapid turnover between clients and less waiting, which will allow us to immunize more people every day and get the vaccine to more Manitobans sooner.”

The process will be piloted at both the Morden and Winnipeg super sites beginning next week.

“The more vaccine we deliver, the more we learn how to improve our processes and ramp up delivery, just as vaccine delivery is poised to ramp up from the federal government,” said Premier Brian Pallister. 

© News4.ca 2021