The Government of Saskatchewan reaffirmed their stance that the way to beat COVID-19 is through vaccines, despite alarmingly high case numbers Friday.
Nearly 300 doctors across the province wrote a letter to the province asking them to implement stronger measures province-wide and vaccinate all front line workers.
Health Minister Paul Merriman says he understands the doctors’ concerns, but the province’s COVID-19 approach is working.
“The numbers seem to have stabilized right now; we had a bug number yesterday. Some preliminary numbers today look like things are stabilizing back to where they were a couple of days ago,” said Merriman. “We want to make sure we don’t slow down that process, and by pulling out certain groups, that will slow down the process.”
NDP Leader Ryan Meili says the only reason vaccines are being rolled out so quickly, is because of the volunteers giving them out.
He adds he’s baffled as to why the government isn’t listening to the recommendation being laid out by people on the front lines.
“The people who are asking to change the plan, are the ones who are out there on the front lines delivering the vaccine,” said Meili. “They recognize it’s not the right approach, and they’re super frustrated with a minister that has no time for their opinions.”
Merriman says the province has no plans on changing their vaccine timeline, saying it’s the fastest in the country.
“We are doing about 10,000 to 12,000 a day,” said Merriman. “Right now we got about 5 days of supply on hand for booked appointments that are out there right now. The age sequencing is moving along very quickly, it’s going to as long as the vaccine supply stays there. I understand that (the doctors) are concerned, but if we can say that in five weeks, we can get to everyone in the province, I think that’s a very successful timeline.
