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Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro is confident in the province’s COVID-19 vaccination rate as first and second doses continue to decline.
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Speaking at an unrelated press conference Wednesday, Shandro said the province will never see a 100 per cent vaccination rate, but the uptake for COVID-19 vaccinations is better than that for the seasonal flu.
As of end-of-day Tuesday, 5,100,111 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta, an increase of more than 21,000.
Of Albertans aged 12 and older who are eligible for the vaccine, 74.9 per cent have received at least one dose, an increase of 0.1 per cent from the previous day. Currently of eligible Albertans, 60.7 per cent are fully vaccinated with two doses.
Shandro noted the province will be announcing more initiatives in the coming days to increase first and second doses, focusing on the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
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“We’re also going to find innovative ways so that access is not an issue in particular for areas of the province that are low uptake,” Shandro said.
“We’ve also been working with physicians and created a billing code for areas of the province that have low uptake for physicians to go through their roster and reach out to those patients and talk to them about the safety and efficacy and so we’ll continue to see the effectiveness of those innovative strategies in the days ahead.
“We know that also summer was always going to be a slower time for vaccines as people are going to be doing other things but we will continue to push as much as we can to get those numbers up.”
According to Alberta Health spokesman Tom McMillan, more than 280,000 vaccine appointments have been booked for the next two weeks.
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“We are using temporary clinics, mobile clinics, drive-thru clinics, advertising campaigns and much more. There are more than 1,400 pharmacies offering the vaccine, along with hundreds of AHS clinics and physicians’ offices,” McMillan said in a statement.
“We’ve also been collaborating with various partner organizations to ensure the vaccine is easily accessible to those in Indigenous populations, Hutterite colonies as well as employees and staff working in warehouse settings, meat plants, agriculture, and the oilsands, among others.”
McMillan also said while it is difficult to attribute vaccine uptake to one singular motivation or initiative, since the province announced the Open for Summer Lottery to encourage vaccine uptake Alberta surpassed 60 per cent of those eligible receiving second doses and is days away from reaching 75 per cent vaccinated with at least one dose.
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Alberta reported 81 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday as hospitalizations continue to decline.
Over the last 24 hours, 6,479 tests for the virus were completed, for a positivity rate of 1.2 per cent. There are currently 649 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, an increase of 43 from Tuesday.
There are 95 people hospitalized with COVID-19, a decrease of three from Tuesday. Of those, 27 are in intensive care units, which remains unchanged. Of the people currently hospitalized but not in the ICU, 66.2 per cent are unvaccinated, while 88.9 per cent of those in the ICU are unvaccinated.
No new deaths were reported, and the provincial death toll stands at 2,318.
In the Edmonton Zone, which includes the city of Edmonton and surrounding municipalities, there are 128 active cases, an increase of 11. The city of Edmonton has 104 active cases, an increase of eight.
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Sixty-one new cases of COVID-19 variants of concern were identified on Wednesday. Fifty-four of the new cases are the Delta variant and seven are the Alpha variant.
Meanwhile, Alberta Health Services (AHS) announced Wednesday the rapid flow COVID-19 immunization clinic at the Edmonton Expo Centre will be closing at the end of July.
“COVID-19 case numbers are significantly lower throughout the province. Demand for immunization continues; however, rapid flow clinics are no longer needed given the increasing percentage of the immunized population,” AHS said in a statement.
Staff at the Expo Centre will be transferred to other immunization sites, wherever possible. The centre’s clinic will close at 8 p.m. on July 29.
Albertans can continue to book their first or second doses through AHS’ online booking tool, Health Link at 811, as well as local pharmacies, and at physician’s offices.
Since opening on April 12, staff at the Expo Centre have administered more than 143,000 immunizations.
Alberta health minister says more initiatives on the way to increase first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine - Edmonton Journal
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