Manitoba will get its first 1,950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week which will go to immunize about 900 people with two doses each. The initial doses are earmarked for front-line health-care workers in critical care units.
Between now and the end of March the province expects to receive 228,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. This is enough for just over 100,000 people.
“With only a very limited supply of new vaccines available before the spring, we will follow the advice of national and provincial public health experts,” said Premier Brian Pallister. “We will focus our initial immunization efforts on those most at risk of COVID-19 including seniors, those working in the health-care system and in long-term care facilities, and Indigenous peoples.”
The immunization campaign will begin with priority segments of the population which have been identified as health-care workers most directly involved in the COVID-19 response, seniors living in settings such as long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, retirement homes, and chronic care hospitals, older adults starting at 80 years of age and older and adults at risk in remote or isolated Indigenous communities.
“As we unfortunately know too well, older people are the most at risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer. “Health-care workers are always at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 or transmitting it to others. We need to protect them in order to protect our health care system.”
The province says that once the priority population has been vaccinated it will eventually be available to any Manitoban who wants it however that is unlikely to happen until later in 2021.
“We have been assured by the federal government that sufficient doses will eventually be made available for every Manitoban who wants a vaccination, but that will take time,” said Pallister. “I ask Manitobans to be patient until that day arrives, and keep practicing the fundamentals of living with COVID by staying safely apart, washing your hands and wearing a mask.”
A vaccine clinic has been set up in Winnipeg to administer the first round of vaccines but the province says that additional clinics will be setup over the next three months in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson, Steinbach, Gimli, Portage la Prairie and The Pas.
© News4.ca 2020
