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Saskatchewan has reached a major milestone in its battle against COVID-19.
In its daily update Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced 6,496 doses of COVID vaccine had been administered in the latest reporting period, pushing vaccinations in the province past the one-million mark.
To date, 1,005,275 shots have been given in Saskatchewan. The first ones were delivered to two Regina health-care workers on Dec. 15.
Thanks a million Saskatchewan! Over one million COVID-19 vaccine shots have now gone into the arms of Saskatchewan residents.
The vaccines are working. Today, we have our lowest seven-day average of new cases since October of last year.
[1/2] pic.twitter.com/dvXS8UkPhm
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) June 22, 2021
The latest inoculations comprised 898 first doses and 5,598 second shots. So far, 295,202 people have received two shots and are considered fully vaccinated.
The province also reported 36 new cases and 87 recoveries. There weren’t any deaths announced.
The total of new cases is the lowest in a day since Oct. 23, when 33 were reported.
The province’s active caseload dropped to 639, its lowest mark since it was 619 on Oct. 25.
Vaccination update
The latest shots were given in the Saskatoon (2,574), Regina (861), central-east (707), northwest (482), north-central (451), southeast (394), northeast (340), southwest (226), far northeast (89), south-central (81), central-west (67) and far northwest (26) zones.
Eighty per cent of those aged 40 and up now have received their first dose. Seventy-five per cent of those 30 and over have received their first dose. Seventy per cent of those 18 and over have received their first dose, while 69 per cent of those 12 and over have received their first dose.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority revealed Tuesday the province’s latest Pfizer shipment has been delayed, so the SHA is going to be using Moderna at many of its clinics this week.
“As advised by National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the Pfizer and Moderna (mRNA) vaccines can be safely substituted for each other,” the SHA said in a media release. “Saskatchewan’s clinical experts advise residents affected by this delay to accept Moderna for their second dose, as it is safe and effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
Since Pfizer is the only vaccine currently approved by Health Canada for those aged 12 to 17, some vaccination appointments that have been scheduled may be postponed.
A look at the numbers
The cases reported Tuesday were in the Regina (11), Saskatoon (nine), southeast (six), far northeast (three), northwest (two), north-central (two) and south-central (one) zones. The hometowns of two cases are still being determined.
The province also removed 21 cases deemed to be out-of-province residents from its total. So far in Saskatchewan, 48,505 cases have been detected.
The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is 67, or 5.4 per 100,000 population. It hasn’t been that low since it was 62 on Oct. 29.
There were 27 new cases of variants of concern identified by screening, increasing the province’s total so far to 11,998.
Of the 6,903 variant cases with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 6,475 are Alpha (the United Kingdom variant), 293 are Gamma (Brazilian), 125 are Delta (Indian) and 10 are Beta (South African).
The recoveries announced Tuesday increased that total so far to 47,301.
There are 79 people with COVID in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 67 receiving inpatient care and 12 in intensive care. Those latter patients are spread between Regina (five), Saskatoon (four) and the north-central region (three).
The 1,270 COVID tests done in Saskatchewan on Monday hiked the provincial total to date to 904,060.