Health minister describes process for remaining Phase 1 of COVID vaccine rollout

Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

That’s essentially the way the vaccination rollout is going to occur, according to Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman.

In a statement Wednesday, Merriman said his ministry and the Saskatchewan Health Authority are working to get as many vaccines into arms as quickly as possible.

Right now, priority groups including long-term and personal care home residents and certain health-care workers, and some northern communities are getting their turn.

After those populations are completed, Merriman says those who are 70 and over will begin to get their vaccines as well, with the oldest people in the province getting them first.

The SHA is using contact lists generated by eHealth to identify people by their locations and their ages. That information and those lists are created using health card information, vital statistics data and other eHealth information.

“Using these lists, individuals are being contacted by phone based on their age until all available appointments are filled,” the statement read. “Priority sequencing is maintained, contacting the oldest residents first and descending by years.”

But right now, no one has enough vaccine to get to everyone who’s eligible for it.

Merriman says as more vaccine becomes available in the coming days and weeks, clinics will open in certain areas and someone from public health will directly contact those who can get their dose.

According to the provincial government, 81 per cent of residents in long-term care homes have received their first doses and 46 per cent have received both doses. As well, 76 per cent of the people in Saskatchewan’s personal care homes have been given their first doses and 24 per cent have received both.

After Phase 1 of the rollout is complete, Phase 2 — the vaccination of the general public — is to begin. That’s likely to happen in April.

In that phase, the province will inoculate people by age groups. It’s to start with those between the ages of 60 and 69 and then move to the 50-to-59 age group, the 40-to-49 group and so on.