Sask.'s COVID vaccine rollout: here's what you need to know

As of Wednesday, just under 3,000 people in Saskatchewan — including health-care workers tending to COVID-19 patients — have been vaccinated against the virus.

So far, the province has received 5,850 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from the federal government: 3,900 for Saskatoon and 1,950 for Regina.

From those supply pools, 1,108 and 1,834 health care workers in Saskatoon and Regina have been inoculated, respectively, since the province's vaccination program kicked off on Dec. 15.

The remaining vaccines from the first Regina Pfizer-BioNTech batch will go to staff working at two long-term care centres in that city — Pioneer Village and Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home — where COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared.

Meanwhile, part of the first batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines which Saskatchewan received on Wednesday will go to residents and staff at long-term care centres, as well as other high-priority healthcare workers in the far north west and far north central zones of Saskatchewan.

Given the complexities of transporting the vaccine through the geographically vast north, those vaccinations are not expected to take place until the weeks of Jan. 4 and Jan. 11.

But which cities and groups are next in the queue? How many doses will be supplied to Saskatchewan every week?  And when could the general population get their first doses?

Here's what Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, said about that in his latest update on Wednesday.

The next Pfizer-BioNTech batch will go to Prince Albert

Just under 4,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — which was the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in Canada — are due to arrive in Saskatchewan on Jan. 4. 

"Similar to Regina and Saskatoon, health-care workers providing ongoing regular care to COVID-19 patients [and] staff who work in long-term care facilities and personal care homes and residents will be vaccinated in Prince Albert," Shahab said.

The rollout has so far conformed to the vaccine plan first touted by the province on Dec. 9. That plan called for two phases of rollout, with phase one involving the inoculation of health-care workers as well other priority populations at higher risk of contracting COVID-19: seniors, care home residents and people in northern communities.  

"The first two to three months, the vaccination will really prioritize these populations throughout Saskatchewan," Shahab said on Wednesday. "But we really are hopeful that, starting April, May, there'll be more supplies of both the vaccines. Canada has entered into negotiations with seven manufacturers."

The general population could get vaccinated beginning in June

The second phase of Saskatchewan's rollout plan, anticipated to start in April, "will continue priority population immunization while providing widespread vaccine access to immunize the general population," according to government's initial announcement of its plan. 

Shahab was asked Wednesday when exactly the general population might started getting vaccinated.

"The vaccine will be opened up to younger age groups and [people] with underlying health conditions initially [in April] and then to the general population, I would estimate, June, July onwards." 

For now, vaccine supply remains tight

Saskatchewan initially estimated it would receive 10,725 weekly doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first quarter of 2021, although the province stressed that "allocations are subject to fluctuate."

By Wednesday, that forecast had indeed changed, with Shahab stating that Saskatchewan now expects to receive 6,800 Pfizer-BioNTech doses per week in January, which he called "a stable supply." 

As for the Moderna vaccine — the second COVID-19 vaccine approved in Canada — "we are getting bi-weekly shipments of smaller amounts over January and February and then we will get the bulk of them in March," Shahab said. 

The vaccine amounts are such that we can't send the vaccine throughout the province every week.- Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab

Shahab was asked Wednesday how the government is deciding which priority areas to first send the vaccine to.

"At a high level, I think the vaccine amounts are such that we can't send the vaccine throughout the province every week," Shahb said.  

Moderna vaccine shipments, which are easier to transport since they do not have to be stored at as low a temperature as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, are being focused toward areas with a higher infection rate, he added.

High poverty rates are also a factor, Shahab said. 

One of the communities in the Far North West region where some of the first Moderna doses are headed is Ile-a-la-Crosse. A community-wide outbreak was declared there recently.