Who have provinces pegged to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks?

Health Canada anticipates a total of 36.5 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India by June 30.

Provinces initially suspended giving AstraZeneca shots to people under the age of 55 based on an advisory committee’s advice, but their recommendation changed on April 23 to reflect that the shot is safe for anyone aged 30 and older.

Provinces have yet to move the threshold quite that low, however.

There are approximately 31 million Canadians over 16, and no vaccines are approved for anyone younger than 16.

Here’s a list of the inoculation plans throughout Canada:

Newfoundland and Labrador

Residents who are between the ages of 55 to 64 have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

People 65 and older, Indigenous adults, people considered “clinically extremely vulnerable” and rotational workers, truck drivers and flight crew have access to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

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Nova Scotia

Residents as young as 55 can book an appointment for a Pfizer of Moderna vaccine.

The province continues to offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 55-64.

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Prince Edward Island

Beginning April 26, people in the province between the ages of 40 and 59 can start booking appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine.

People 16 years and older who have certain underlying medical conditions, pregnant woman and eligible members of their household can also get a vaccine.

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New Brunswick

People as young as 60 can begin booking vaccination appointments.

Individuals 40 years old and older with three or more select chronic health conditions are also eligible.

Officials said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be available to people aged 40 to 54 by April 30.

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Quebec

All adult Quebecers will be able to make a vaccination appointment by mid-May and receive a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June, Health Minister Christian Dube has said.

He said Quebecers aged 50 to 59 can begin booking appointments on April 30.

Over the following two weeks, appointments will rapidly open to Quebecers in descending order of age — dropping by five years every two or three days — until May 14, when they will be available to people aged 18 to 24.

Quebec has also expanded AstraZeneca availability to people as young as 45. Pregnant women could begin booking vaccine appointments April 28.

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Ontario

The province will send half its vaccine supply for the first two weeks of May to 114 postal codes identified as hot spots, an increase from the 25 per cent allocation those areas currently get.

The move follows a recommendation from the province’s science advisers to allocate shots based on transmission rate rather than age group to reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19.

The government said it will return to a per capita distribution for vaccines on the week of May 17.

Ontario is also working to lower age eligibility for the vaccine throughout May, saying those 50 and older can book shots at mass vaccination clinics starting next week. If supply holds, the province expects to make those 18 and older eligible for a shot at mass sites provincewide on the week of May 24.

In hot spots, the province said those 18 and older will be able to book vaccines at mass sites starting Monday.

Vaccine eligibility will also open Monday to those with high-risk health conditions, such as obesity, developmental disabilities and treatments requiring immunosuppression. A group of employees who cannot work from home − including food manufacturing workers and foster care workers − also become eligible.

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Manitoba

The province is using the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for First Nations people aged 30 and up and others aged 50 and up. These are available through a few channels including so-called supersites in larger communities. Health officials plan to continue reducing the age minimum, bit by bit, over the coming months.

The province is also allowing anyone 40 and over to get an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through pharmacies and medical clinics, subject to availability.

All front-line police officers, firefighters and health care workers, regardless of age, qualify as well.

The province is also vaccinating all adults in high-risk areas.

Anyone over 18 who lives or works in the northern health region can get a vaccine.

Any adult who lives in other high-risk areas, including downtown Brandon and much of central Winnipeg, can get a shot as well. Adults who don’t live in those neighbourhoods but who work there in certain jobs that deal with the public can also get vaccinated. Those jobs include teachers, grocery store workers, food-processing staff and restaurant employees.

Roughly 35 per cent of Manitoba’s adult population has had at least one vaccine dose.

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Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Health Authority opens up bookings Friday for residents 40 and older. The minimum age for people living in the Far North is 30.

All workers identified as priority are also eligible for shots starting Friday. Additional workers include police, firefighters, public-health inspectors, teachers and educational staff working with students.

The province previously expanded the vaccine delivery plan for people in more vulnerable groups to include all pregnant women and 16- and 17-year-olds who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable.

Saskatchewan also dropped the age at which people can receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to 40 from 55.

There are drive-thru and walk-in vaccination clinics in communities across the province.

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Alberta

Another group of 650,000 Albertans will be eligible to book appointments starting Friday.

The final two groups in Phase 2 includes vulnerable Albertans and those who support them, workers at locations with potential for large outbreaks, Albertans aged 50 and older, and all First Nations, Inuit and Metis people aged 35 and older.

It will also include front-line police officers and provincial sheriffs who interact with residents at shelters, correctional facilities and remand centres, border security staff and firefighters.

Albertans born in 2009 or earlier with high-risk underlying health conditions are eligible for shots.

Health-care workers can still book appointments: physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, their office staff, lab workers, practicum students in clinical areas, as well as health workers on First Nations reserves and Metis settlements.

Previously, shots have been available to front-line health workers, staff and residents in supportive living facilities.

For the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the province has lowered the minimum age to 40 from 55. For those living in the hot spots of Banff and Lake Louise as well as the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the age for AstraZeneca is 30.

The Moderna vaccine is also available to Indigenous people in Wood Buffalo as young as 30.

More than 250 pharmacies are offering immunizations. Ten physicians clinics across the province are also providing shots as part of a pilot project, which could be expanded in May.

About 15,000 workers at 136 meat-packing plants across the province can also get shots at on-site clinics, pharmacies and health clinics.

Alberta has said it is extending the time between the first dose and the second to four months. But some cancer patients are able to book a second dose 21 to 28 days after their first.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro has said the province expects to offer all Albertans 18 and over a first dose by the end of June.

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British Columbia

The province has lowered the eligibility age for people to register for COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Ministry of Health says all adults over the age of 18 are now eligible to register for vaccines through the province’s Get Vaccinated program.

Once registered, users receive a confirmation code. They then wait for an email, text or call telling them they’re eligible and can book their vaccine appointment using that code.

Health authorities are also targeting so-called hot spot communities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 with dedicated clinics, which the provincial government says are using its “limited” supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

B.C. has lowered the age for those eligible to receive the AstraZeneca shot to 30, starting with those in `hot spot’ communities and adding appointments at pharmacies as supplies improve.

Firefighters, police and paramedics, meanwhile, are being vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines alongside staff at schools and childcare centres.

The province says more than 1.7 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered, with more than 90,000 of those being a second shot.

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Nunavut

Nunavut has opened vaccinations to anyone 18 and older.

It is also offering shots to rotational workers coming from Southern Canada.

The territory expects to finish its vaccine rollout of first and second doses by the end of April.

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Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is also providing vaccine to those 18 and older and expects to finish its rollout by the end of April.

It is similarly offering shots to rotational workers and mine employees coming from Southern Canada.

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Yukon

There have been almost 48,000 doses of Moderna vaccine administered in Yukon, 25,731 of them first doses and 22, 032 of them second shots.

More than 70 per cent of Yukon residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health officials say that means they can reduce the hours of operation at the Whitehorse vaccine clinic.

A statement from the territory says at the peak of the process, hundreds of people are day were coming into the Whitehorse clinic.

Deputy health minister Stephen Samis says they’ll scale down operations and focus some efforts on other vaccinations, including pre-kindergarten and routine childhood vaccines.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2021.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Who have provinces pegged to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks?

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