Moe offers message of hope about vaccinations, COVID measures

It’s the good news many people have been waiting to hear as Saskatchewan gets ready to roll up its sleeve in a big way.

Premier Scott Moe confirmed Tuesday the province will get more vaccine doses in March than the total number of doses that have been delivered so far this year.

The current plan says the province is to receive 112,000 vaccine doses in March from Pfizer and Moderna, as well as 15,000 doses of the newly approved AstraZeneca vaccine.

That means if public health makes the decision to wait four months between first and second doses — a recently proposed schedule by medical experts — every person in Saskatchewan who wants the vaccine could get their first shot quicker than first anticipated.

“If we continue to have access to Pfizer and to Moderna in the amounts that have been indicated to us that we would have access to, we would be able to provide virtually everyone in the province their first dose by the end of June,” Moe said during a news conference.

If more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are shipped to Saskatchewan — and if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is approved by Health Canada — all those in the province who want to be inoculated could get their first doses by early June.

That again depends on Saskatchewan health officials following new information that says it’s safe and effective to wait four months between first and second doses of the vaccine.

“What that will do is that would really accelerate our first dose program,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer. “If we are able to do that, we can see most of our population 18 and older potentially getting their first dose by June.

“That would really help us in really putting the pandemic behind us.”

The goal of the vaccination program, Shahab said, is to “maximum population protection.” He noted getting one dose into the majority of the province’s population by June and then giving second shots from July onwards would prevent a potential third, variant-fuelled wave while also keeping everyone protected.

And that could allow the province to ease the measures it has put in place to reduce the spread of COVID.

Moe said the question he hears most from residents is when the limit on the size of household gatherings will be lifted. The limit currently is five.

“We are very close to making and finalizing these decisions,” Moe said. “I have spoken to Dr. Shahab about this frequently. He just wants to see the new case and hospitalization numbers remain stable for a few more days.

“If that occurs, we should have more to say about household restrictions, possibly by early next week.”

Current public health measures, including household gathering limits, are to remain in place until March 19.

As of Tuesday, Saskatchewan’s seven-day average of new cases was 144 and the test positivity rate had dropped to about six per cent. However, there are some regions of the province — including Regina, areas of the north and the far north — where numbers remain relatively high.

Shahab said health officials usually have gone with a province-wide approach to public health measures, but a regional strategy could be considered if case numbers stay high in some areas while dropping in others.

“It’s easiest if restrictions are relaxed uniformly throughout the province and we hope that we can move in that direction,” Shahab said, “but if there’s a local resurgence, I think we need to move as quickly as we’ve always done.”

“As we move forward through the next few weeks and months,” Moe added, “it would be my hope that we will have enough vaccines for Saskatchewan people that we won’t have to have that conversation on, ‘Are we going to treat different regions of the province in a different manner?’ ”

In the interim, Moe once again asked residents to continue practising all of the common habits to limit the spread of the virus.

“In the next number of weeks, not months, we are going to see things change and change significantly,” he said. “Spring is coming, vaccines are on the way and we are on the path to getting life back to normal as we know it, but we’re just not quite there yet.

“Please, for the next number of days and weeks, keep doing what you’re doing to keep yourself safe, to keep those around you safe and to keep your families safe.”

AstraZeneca on the way

According to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, AstraZeneca should not be administered to people 65 and over.

Shahab said the province was trying to determine the best way to use the latest vaccine in its provincial rollout, whether that meant giving it to health-care workers and other frontline personnel or saving it for specific age groups.

He’s hoping it’s a moot point.

“By the time AstraZeneca and (Johnson & Johnson) supplies pick up, we hopefully will already have done everyone 65 and over anyways with Pfizer and Moderna,” Shahab said.