All adults in Manitoba: come on down Age eligibility for vaccines to be lowered to 18
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/05/2021 (1326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Beginning Wednesday, every adult Manitoban will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, signalling a turning point in a provincial vaccine rollout often beset by supply and operational setbacks.
During question period Tuesday, just hours after age eligibility was lowered to 24, Premier Brian Pallister said it would be dropped to 18 Wednesday, more than a week ahead of schedule.
“We need to get Manitobans vaccinated, and we are,” Pallister said in response to questions from NDP Leader Wab Kinew. “And thank you to our vaccination team getting us to 24-plus today, and 18-plus tomorrow.”
A spokesman for the premier confirmed that an announcement would be made on Wednesday. He urged Manitobans under the age of 24 to wait to book an appointment before the official announcement is made.
In the past four days, eligibility expanded at an accelerated pace, with more than 100,000 people becoming eligible in a 72-hour period. On Saturday, the eligibility dropped to 35 from 40; it was lowered again on Monday to 30 years old, and again to 24-plus on Tuesday.
wfpsummary:The Manitoba government is relocating AstraZeneca vaccines to some higher volume medical clinics and pharmacies to speed up administration of the fridge-stable shot.
As of Tuesday, the province said there were 9,811 doses of vaccine with pharmacists and medical clinics, the majority of which were AstraZeneca doses that have been in the province for about a month.:wfpsummary
The Manitoba government is relocating AstraZeneca vaccines to some higher volume medical clinics and pharmacies to speed up administration of the fridge-stable shot.
As of Tuesday, the province said there were 9,811 doses of vaccine with pharmacists and medical clinics, the majority of which were AstraZeneca doses that have been in the province for about a month.
“At this time, Manitoba is not looking to recall any AstraZeneca doses from pharmacists or physicians,” a provincial spokesperson said in a statement to the Free Press. “There is an active effort being made to move excess doses from one location to another that may have higher demand and could use the doses for people on waiting lists.”
According to the province, about 53 per cent of the remaining AstraZeneca shots are in Winnipeg.
While health officials continue to recommend that people take the first vaccine that they are offered, uptake of the AstraZeneca shot in Manitoba has been slower due to changes in eligibility criteria, evolving recommendations for use by the National Advisory Council on Immunization and the potential for a rare, but serious, side effect that causes blood clots with low platelets.
In Manitoba, the vaccine is currently available to people 30 to 39 with select health conditions, and people age 40 and over, at medical clinics and pharmacies.
The spokesperson said despite having a small inventory of AstraZeneca shots available, the province will not begin providing second doses to people who already received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The first AstraZeneca shots were provided to people about seven weeks ago.
“The AstraZeneca clinical trials demonstrated much higher efficacy when the second dose was delayed until after 12 weeks,” the spokesperson said. “Therefore, Manitoba is recommending that the second doses of AstraZeneca not be given earlier than 12 weeks after dose one.”
Manitoba has received a total of 84,260 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to date and the federal government has not yet said when more doses of the vaccine might arrive in the province.
By mid-afternoon, a lineup of more than 100 people, which stretched the length of a city block, snaked from the entrance of 181 Higgins Ave., where an Indigenous-led vaccination clinic was accepting walk-ins.
Ariane Gagne, who lives in the prioritized community of St. Vital North, decided to join the queue to see if she could get a shot.
“As soon as I can get it, I thought why not try to get the vaccine,” the 22-year-old said. “For me, it’s personal, but being here feels like a sense of community, a sense of doing something for the betterment of society.
“I haven’t felt that in so long,” she said with a chuckle.
The clinic at the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre is one of two Indigenous-led vaccination clinics in Winnipeg that accept a small number of walk-ins. They make it easier for inner-city residents, who would be unable to book an appointment, to get a shot.
Currently, appointments at pop-up and mass vaccination clinics in Winnipeg are two to three weeks into the future.
Also in line Tuesday, was Hannah, a pregnant 28-year-old teacher, who showed up with her partner, Scott. The pair heard about the clinic through word of mouth, they said.
“Myself, being pregnant, I was super happy when (eligibility) opened up,” said Hannah, who asked that her last name not be used. “But for my husband, who is 28, I was actually quite surprised. I figured it would take quite a bit longer.”
Last week, the province’s COVID-19 vaccine task force had promised to reducing age eligibility to 18-plus by May 21, with a strong chance that Manitobans between the ages of 12 and 17 would also become eligible. The task force had suggested age eligibility would be lowered in five-year increments on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the accelerated eligibility schedule was due to lower-than-expected demand for appointments among eligible groups as the number of doses Manitoba will receive over the next three weeks from the federal government had not changed.
A provincial spokesman said more details about the new timeline would be provided Wednesday.
The task force estimates that 70 per cent of adult Manitobans will have received one dose by June 8, at the latest. Appointments for second doses will open on May 22.
Manitoba reported 329 new COVID-19 infections, and no new deaths due to the virus on Tuesday. The triple-digit case count pushed the province past the peak of the seven-day average experienced during the second wave.
Cases were reported in all health regions, including 235 in Winnipeg; 28 in Southern Health; 24 in Interlake–Eastern; 34 in Prairie Mountain; and 8 in Northern Health.
The five-day test positivity rate was 12 per cent in Manitoba, and 14.2 per cent in Winnipeg.
There were 3,837 active cases in Manitoba, with 214 people in hospital, 59 of them in intensive care.
Since the vaccination campaign began in mid-December, 576,024 vaccine doses had been administered, including 10,116 on Monday; another 13,953 appointments were scheduled Tuesday.
Of the approximately, 117,936 doses available in Manitoba, the province said 63,125 were in its control and would be administered over a period of five days.
Another 34,210 doses were with First Nations partners, and at most, 9,811 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine remained with pharmacists and doctors to administer.
A delivery of 73,710 more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Manitoba on Tuesday morning.
By June 2, a total of 235,170 Pfizer doses will have been delivered to Manitoba and 37,600 doses of Moderna will arrive the week of May 17, likely on Thursday.
As of Tuesday, 46 per cent of adult Manitobans had received at least one dose of vaccine.
— with files from Erik Pindera and Larry Kusch
danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
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Updated on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 8:00 PM CDT: Changes word dropped to expanded in fifth paragraph
