Vaccine Shot -- Image from Canadian Press

By Justin Goulet

Physician clinics to start offering COVID vaccines as part of pilot project

Apr 14, 2021 | 10:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – As part of a new pilot program, some physician clinics in Alberta will start offering COVID-19 vaccines.

The initiative will begin on April 19, and 10 clinics across the province will take part. The program will be expanded to include more clinics in May.

The province stated that the exact locations of participating clinics will not be posted during the pilot process “to prevent patient care at these clinics being affected by public interest”.

When the rollout is expanded next month, a full list of participating clinics will be posted online. Those participating in the pilot will contact patients and handle booking appointments directly.

Alberta’s Minister of Health Tyler Shandro said, “Since the start of the pandemic, community physicians have worked hard to support and protect their patients. This pilot is another step forward.”

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“Albertans will now have another way to receive their COVID-19 vaccines from an important part of our health-care system. We’re aiming to expand this pilot to many, many more physician clinics as soon as possible.”

The pilot will test the most efficient ways to transport, book and administer vaccines through community physician clinics. There will be two participating clinics in each Alberta Health Services zone during the pilot.

Each clinic will initially get 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Clinics will contact their patients who are eligible for vaccination.

President of the Alberta Medical Association, Dr. Paul Boucher said, ““Alberta’s community-based physicians have been playing a key role in caring for patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Albertans have a strong connection to their family physicians and look to them to help inform important decisions about their health, such as vaccination.”

“The vaccination of all eligible Albertans is a monumental task and leveraging all our collective resources will be essential in getting this done efficiently. We hope that this pilot effort will lead to significant expansion in vaccine capacity through participating community physician offices.”

As of this past Monday, April 12, more than 970,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in the province.

On Monday, Premier Jason Kenney said Alberta is on pace to offer every adult a dose of vaccine by the end of June.

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