COVID shot eligibility drops to 40, priority groups also eligible

As of 8 o’clock Friday morning, thousands more people in Saskatchewan will be able to get a COVID-19 shot as eligibility expands once again.

The eligibility will move to people 40 years of age and older in most of the province; it’s already at 30 and older in the far north.

Priority workers will also become eligible for a shot at that time, including police officers, firefighters and volunteer firefighters, corrections workers, border security officers, public health inspectors, teachers and education staff working directly with students, daycare staff at facilities attached to schools, and frontline health-care workers who deal directly with patients for both the Saskatchewan Health Authority and private employers.

Priority workers under 40 won’t be able to book online, though; they have to book by phone or go in person to a drive-through or walk-in clinic, or go to a pharmacy. They will also have to have proof of their employment with them when they get the shot.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said it’s a big group of people coming online.

“If you can’t get your appointment immediately, you should be able to get it within about, I would say, five to 10 days of booking your appointment – maybe not in your exact zone but in close proximity,” Merriman said.

He encouraged people to book their vaccination, even if they can’t book it right in their home community.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said as of Thursday afternoon, there were 10,000 open appointments across the province.

On Sunday, drive-through clinics are expected to open in both Regina and Saskatoon.
“We’ve got vaccines allocated for that and we’re looking at seeing if we can open it a couple of days next week,” Merriman said.

This week, the province was set to get about 31,590 doses of Pfizer and 18,800 doses of Moderna.

The first shipments of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine are expected to start being sent out to provinces early next week. If Saskatchewan continues to get the same share it has been getting, there would be about 9,000 doses heading to the province.