Health minister says Saskatchewan will be ‘ready to go’ when vaccine arrives

Health Minister Paul Merriman said Wednesday the provincial government expects to start vaccinating residents against COVID-19 early in the new year, as soon as shipments are received from the federal government.

“Saskatchewan’s per-capita share, which we should be receiving in the first quarter of 2021, is about 180,000 doses – enough to vaccinate 90,000 people,” Merriman said during a media conference.

Merriman noted that total was based only on deliveries of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, both of which have applied to have their vaccine candidates approved. Two other companies – AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson – also have applied for approval.

“(Two more companies) could result in more vaccines being delivered even quicker,” Merriman said. “When that occurs, we will be ready to start receiving the shipments — and we will also be ready to go.”

The number of COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan has risen steadily in recent weeks and now stands at 8,982 since the start of the pandemic.

There were 3,970 active cases being reported in the province as of Wednesday, when the deaths of two more residents who had tested positive for the virus also were announced. The province’s COVID-related death toll is now 53.

Merriman said he and Premier Scott Moe have directed “all necessary resources” to the task of delivering the vaccine to the province’s residents.

“Based on the advice of public health officials, we will be prioritizing who will receive it first,” Merriman said. “There will be more detail on this presentation next week, but it’s no surprise that we expect health-care workers and the residents in our long-term care and personal care homes to receive the first vaccines.

“We do not yet have an exact timeline on when we will be receiving these vaccines. The federal government is now saying the first deliveries will be early in the new year.”

Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said it’s expected more people will start being able to access the vaccine in April or May.

Merriman said the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority already have done a significant amount of work to prepare for the delivery of vaccines, with health-care workers and support staff among those involved.

More details on the preparations are to be released next week.

“I want everybody to know we in Saskatchewan are ready to go,” Merriman said. “As soon as the federal government is able to start delivering the vaccine to us, we will be ready to deliver that to Saskatchewan people quickly and safely.”

Until the vaccines arrive, Merriman urged residents to follow guidelines that are in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. He also reminded people to follow the now-familiar measures like wearing masks, practising physical distancing, washing hands and limiting close contacts.

Merriman brought up something Moe said earlier in the year, when the premier suggested the fight against COVID wasn’t a sprint but a marathon. There’s still a ways to go, Merriman said, but the government believes the finish line is in sight.

“The finish line is when we have delivered a safe, effective vaccine to a significant number of Saskatchewan’s residents,” he said. “That’s when life can truly start getting back to normal.”

New modelling

Shahab released some new modelling for the province on Wednesday.

He said Saskatchewan is third-highest among the provinces in terms of active cases per 100,000, and Saskatchewan is still going up where other provinces have started to trend down.

Going through the numbers, Shahab said there was some good news: Close contacts per case are coming down. At last release, Shahab said each person had an average of 7.8 contacts but it’s now down to 6.6. Shahab called that really good news.

Shahab said health officials are also not seeing large outbreaks in schools, they’re not seeing a lot of large gatherings anymore and events like curling bonspiels aren’t allowed anymore. All of that is having an impact on case numbers.

Shahab said we all need to hold the line and bring contacts even lower.

Christmas

There are still no decisions on Christmas and what kind of restrictions will be in place in the province at that time.

Shahab said it depends on where case numbers go in the next two to three weeks.

“It is up to us to really see how low we can bring our case numbers over the next two to three weeks and see how that helps us to have a peaceful holiday season,” said Shahab.

Shahab said if cases keep going up like they have, it could mean further restrictions.

“We hope we don’t go there but it’s up to all of us actually to keep bending the curve down,” said Shahab.

Shahab was asked at what point he would be willing to reduce restrictions, and while he didn’t give a direct answer, he did say he’d be comfortable with cases per 100,000 people per day being at five or less. The current number is about 20 cases per 100,000 per day.

Whatever happens, Shahab said Christmas will not look like it did last year.