MOU signed to send COVID vaccines to Sask. First Nations communities

A new Memorandum of Understanding will help deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses to Saskatchewan First Nations.

The MOU was signed by the Saskatchewan government and Indigenous Service Canada (ISC) this week. It’s to take effect April 5 and remain in place for one year.

“We recognize that many First Nations are more at risk and took steps to ensure the first vaccines were made available to communities in our northern and remote regions,” Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a media release.

“We are very pleased to take this additional measure with this agreement to further protect First Nations residents through this collaborative approach to vaccine delivery.”

Through the agreement, the Ministry of Health will give vaccine doses directly to ISC every week.

ISC will get 14 per cent of the province’s vaccine allocation, along with a 20 per cent increase over population numbers, for individuals who live off-reserve who may want to return to their home First Nation to be vaccinated.

ISC is to co-ordinate with the Northern Inter Tribal Authority (NITHA) to determine the allocation and distribution of the vaccines to on-reserve communities.

“We are engaged in a collaborative process with First Nations leadership to implement the distribution and delivery of COVID-19 vaccine through ISC and NITHA to northern communities,” ISC Minister Marc Miller said in the release. “No First Nations individual who is eligible and wants a vaccine can be missed — no matter where they live.”

According to the government, ISC and NITHA “will follow the current priority sequencing and have their own booking system and distribution to on-reserve populations.”

Local First Nations also are working with the Saskatchewan Health Authority to set up culturally respectful vaccine clinics to handle the immunizations.