Sask. senior says messaging on COVID-19 vaccine appointments confusing

Over the past year, 81-year-old Wayne Standbrook has been taking a lot of precautions to keep himself as safe as possible.

The North Battleford resident doesn’t live in a long-term care home, but he is alone in his own home. He says he has some health issues — namely laboured breathing — after undergoing surgery.

“I have to take extra precautions …,” he said. “My family comes to my front door and visits at the front door only. I’m fortunate my daughter does all of my grocery shopping for me and leaves the food at the front door. So it has been extreme caution.”

As part of the province’s Phase 1 vaccination rollout plan, those in long-term and personal care homes get the COVID-19 vaccinations first, along with some populations in northern Saskatchewan and priority health-care workers.

Those over the age of 70 are also now eligible to get their vaccinations, too. But Standbrook says the way the province’s messaging is being delivered can be confusing.

“It was the first part of the message, as I recall, that stated they would be calling us,” he said. “And without pause, the next part of the message was there’ll soon be a telephone number available that people would be able to call them for appointments.

“So it confused me initially as to whether they were going to call us or was there going to be a phone number that we in fact were supposed to use to make an appointment with them?”

Health Minister Paul Merriman sent out a statement on Wednesday indicating public health officials would be contacting people on an age and vaccine availability basis, from lists created through eHealth, health cards and vital statistics.

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

But there was a slightly different message just the day before, during a provincial news conference, from the province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab.

“There will be a variety of mechanisms and that is (sic) already happening as we speak, as vaccines come to various jurisdictions,” explained Shahab. “Obviously the first priority were people in long-term care to special-care homes. But already there are processes that will start and some of that will not require you to be contacted.

“There will be announcements that in this location there is a clinic that, you know, there could be a walk-in clinic.”

He added there were also various ways of reaching out to people via eHealth information as age eligibility moves forward.

Standbrook says he’ll just use his common sense and hopes he learns when he can get his vaccination.

“Common sense on my part would tell me that indeed someone from the government or health will be in touch with us. I have to assume that. It just didn’t come across that easily in the message,” he added.

SHA CEO updates vaccine distribution procedures

At a media conference Thursday afternoon, Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone said there would be changes coming soon to the way vaccine distribution messaging will be handled.

“We’ve learned … that having us contact people isn’t the best way to officially deliver vaccine,” he said. “What you’re going to see in the upcoming days is us doing an about-face where people are going to be able to book their own appointments (and) choose where they’re going to get that vaccine in clinics that have available vaccines.”

He added by the end of this week, vaccinations in long-term care facilities would hopefully be completed, meaning the SHA would move on to the next priority groups including those over the age of 70.

“In the upcoming days you’re going to see an online booking system as well as a telephone line booking system so that those residents can book their own appointments instead of us contacting them,” Livingstone said.

He said up until now, the province has been using lists generated by Vital Statistics and health card registration, but the SHA has found those lists aren’t complete.