Health Minister Tyler Shandro. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

First COVID vaccine doses arrive in Alberta, additional 25K next week

Dec 14, 2020 | 12:13 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Pfizer has confirmed that extra supplies of COVID-19 vaccines will be available in Alberta next week.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced that the first 3,900 doses arrived in the province Monday and will start to begin administering them in Calgary and Edmonton on Wednesday, December 16.

READ MORE: Alberta healthcare workers to receive first COVID vaccine doses next week

He declared today that another 25,350 will be received in the week of December 21.

“Making this announcement is the greatest privilege I’ve had as health minister because it’s the first real ray of light we’ve had in the dark night that our healthcare professionals have lived through for 10 months now,” says Shandro.

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The initial batches will be used solely for healthcare workers including nurses, ICU, long-term care centres, and respiratory therapists.

For the vaccines to be considered fully effective, Pfizer states that each patient must have two doses approximately one month apart.

According to Shandro, Alberta is expecting to receive shipments of Moderna’s COVID vaccine, although Health Canada has not yet given it its final approval.

“Alberta Health Services, Alberta Health, and the COVID-19 task force have been hard at work preparing for the vaccine doses arriving this week and next,” says Paul Wynnyk, Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. “We have the plans in place to get the vaccines to where they need to go: into the arms of Albertans.”

The vaccines need to be stored in ultra-cold freezers. There are currently eight of these facilities in Calgary and Edmonton.

Wynnyk says another eight freezers will arrive before the end of December while 20 more will be here in January.

“Albertans can be confident that this vaccine is safe and that it will be administered efficiently without compromising quality,” says Wynnyk. “We have a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team from Alberta Health Services, Alberta Health, and the COVID-19 Task Force.”

As more shipments arrive in early January, immunization will focus on “Phase 1 priority populations” including residents of long-term care and designated supportive living facilities, seniors aged 75 and over, and First Nations on reserve, Inuit, and on-settlement Metis individuals aged 65 and over.

Phase 2 is expected to start in April 2021 and will be targeted at the next groups of the prioritized population, although the exact eligibility requirements have not been determined.

Phase 3, which impacts the general public, will start later in 2021.