Here are highlights from this week鈥檚 latest COVID-19 update from Regina from Premier Scott Moe and Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer for Saskatchewan.
The big news from this week鈥檚 latest update was that one hundred per cent of long-term care homes across Saskatchewan had received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Of those, ninety-one per cent of residents chose to receive the vaccine, and fifty-three per cent had now received both their first and second dose and are considered fully vaccinated.
Nine per cent of long-term care residents were not immunized, due to circumstances including availability of residents at the time of vaccination, refusal to take the vaccine or a change in health status.
鈥淭o me, this is a very significant milestone,鈥� Moe said, 鈥渉aving our first dose of vaccine offered to every long term resident in the province.鈥�
Moe also reported 90 per cent of personal care homes have now received their first doses, and 43 per cent have received both first and second doses.
There was also an update on numbers of vaccines expected in March. Moe said the province is receiving more vaccines on a more regular basis. He said Saskatchewan can expect to receive 112,000 dose of Pfizer and Moderna in the month of March as well as 15,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As availability of these does pick up, so will the availability of appointments, Moe said. He noted the Sask. Health Authority had indicated appointments can soon be available online or by telephone for those over 70.
As deliveries pick up, even more more residents can register either online or by telephone. He said they expect to launch that appointment system next week.
Case numbers as well as hospitalization continue to stabilize, said Moe. The seven day average down to 144, which is down 55 percent from their peak in January and hospitalizations at 154, down from a high of 238 on Feb. 2.
Moe said he has heard from many who want to see some or all the public health orders relaxed. 鈥淲e are very close to finalizing these decisions,鈥� said Moe.
He said Dr. Shahab wanted to see case and hospitalization numbers remain stable for a few more days. If that occurs, 鈥渨e should have more to say about household restrictions possibly by early next week.鈥�
鈥淪pring is coming, vaccines are on the way, we are on the path to getting life back to normal as we know it, but we are just not quite there yet,鈥� said Moe. He urged residents for the next number of days to keep doing what they were doing to keep themselves and their families safe.
In his remarks, Dr. Shahab pointed to the positive impact the vaccinations were having. He expressed the intent to vaccinate as many residents of the province as quickly as vaccines come.
They are considering how to incorporate the AstraZeneca vaccine into their vaccination program and will announce the details in a couple of days.
He also noted some 鈥済reat information鈥� has come back from the UK as well as Quebec and BC about how effective one dose is for as long as four months. They are looking forward to recommendations that would support delaying the second dose to four months.
If that happens, 鈥渋t would really accelerate our first dose program,鈥� said Dr. Shahab. If they are able to do that, then most of the population 18 and older would potentially get their first dose by the end of June.
He said they are close to finalizing that, and will likely make a decision by the end of next week.
In his remarks, Moe described the data on the efficacy of the first dose of the vaccine as 鈥渁 game-changer鈥� in regards to the dates in which they can have 鈥渟erious discussions鈥� on the measures they have in place.
