Province Announces Further Details To Vaccination Plan

If the vaccines are available and vaccination efforts flow smoothly Saskatchewan has plans to commence vaccinating the province’s general populace as early as sometime in April. The plan’s schedule is dependent upon the availability of vaccines which were recently temporarily reduced by the approved vaccine’s foreign manufacturers.

Presently the Province is in Phase One of their plan which is targeting vulnerable populations such as care home residents and front line medical personnel.

No vaccination program has started in Moose Jaw but MJ Independent has been able to learn from a reliable anonymous local healthcare source Phase One is set to roll out here starting next week.

The plan calls for vaccinations for long term care home residents to be vaccinated first and later front line medical staff will be vaccinated at a clinic held off site of any Saskatchewan Health Authority property - MJ Independent also knows the location of the clinic but has chosen not to publish it.

Vaccinations at the off-site clinic are set to take place seven days a week and run as late as 9 pm daily.

As part of the Phase Two plan, released on Tuesday, the Province has stated the vaccination program will make use of a wide range of clinics and professionals to vaccinate the population.

The Phase Two vaccination plan will focus upon age groups based upon 10 year increments.

The first targeted group to be vaccinated in Phase Two will be those who are 60 - 69 years old. Phase Two will also initially target adults and staff in group homes for persons with intellectual disabilities and shelters. Clinically extremely vulnerable adults will also be included as a priority in Phase 2.

"Saskatchewan is working to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible," Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a statement. "The commencement of mass vaccinations will depend on the number and consistency of vaccine deliveries from the federal government. We are hopeful that mass vaccinations can start as soon as April, based on the current vaccine delivery schedule from the federal government."

The plan also includes a public communications strategy designed to emphasize the vaccine’s safety in an effort to convince higher numbers of people to be vaccinated.

A January 2021 poll by the Angus Reid Institute found ready acceptance to receive vaccine in Saskatchewan to be growing from earlier polling but Saskatchewan had the second lowest percentage of people willing to be vaccinated in the country. The poll found 55 percent of respondents stating they were willing to be immediately vaccinated when a vaccine became available to them. The poll also showed 19 percent of respondents in Saskatchewan answered they were not getting vaccinated.

The Province has pinned its key hopes on controlling the virus and returning to normal, according to the vaccine rollout plans, on the widespread vaccination of the population.

Vaccination works on the principle of herd immunity where if a sufficient percentage of the population is vaccinated and/or immune to an organism it will prevent the further community spread of a communicable disease or illness.

Saskatchewan has NO plans for mandatory vaccination to prevent the further spread of COVID - 19.

Although they will be providing either a physical card or electronic record to show a person has been vaccinated and if the person has received either the initial shot or both immunizations as required by the vaccine.

Those who are vaccinated will still be required to wear masks, social distance and obey restrictions as laid out by provincial public health orders. Being vaccinated will also not allow someone to forego measures enacted by the federal government to restrict unnecessary foreign travel.

Vaccinations will be available through a variety of options including, mass immunization clinics, walk-in and drive-thru clinics, public health clinics and community-based options such as pharmacies.

Information the Province plans to publicly shared will be when it is a person’s turn to be vaccinated, how to register to be vaccinated and what options are available for a person to be vaccinated.