Saskatoon drive-thru vaccination site closes early Wednesday; to reopen Thursday

The kids did quite all right Wednesday morning.

Just over 24 hours after the age eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations in Saskatchewan dropped to the age of 16, the Prairieland Park drive-thru vaccination clinic in Saskatoon reopened after a two-day break.

That allowed teens their first crack at the drive-thru sites — and it proved to be quite popular. The clinic exhausted its supply for the day and closed just over two hours after the doors were opened.

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Many also showed up early in the morning hours, such as Lorne Knihniski. He and his 17-year-old daughter headed to the lineup around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Knihniski described the scene he saw when the pair pulled up.

“We were in line about 5:45 this morning, and there were at least 200 to 300 cars ahead of us, which was quite a surprise,” he said.

Police arrived around 7 a.m., according to Knihniski. They opened the doors to Prairieland to get some of the traffic off the road.

Once the site opened at 8:30 a.m., Knihniski said it took an hour and a half to get in and out of the drive-thru.

He commended the work of those running the site, calling it a “flawless” system. Knihniski said he wished he could thank those workers with some coffee and donuts during the early-morning hours.

“Nothing but kudos to the staff, and the organizers,” he said.

When it comes to his daughter being able to roll up her sleeve for the vaccine, Knihniski was relieved.

“There’s always apprehension,” he admitted. “The vaccine’s a year old, that kind of stuff. There’s going to be natural apprehension to it. To bring back some normality in our lives, it’s a necessity.

“When we were in line, you see all the young kids, (the) teenagers, that are in line to get this. It was just a good feeling that everybody’s on board.”

The vaccination site will reopen Thursday at 8:30 a.m. When those doors open, anyone aged 12 and up will be eligible to get their first dose of the COVID vaccine.

The drive-thru at Regina’s Evraz Place also reopens Wednesday. It’s scheduled to operate from noon to 7:30 p.m., until Saturday.