Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman presented at Monday’s virtual House of Commons Standing Committee on Health meeting regarding the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
During his six-minute presentation, Merriman told members of the committee that the province has been at a standstill with its vaccine rollout plan. He said while the plan has been effective, there have been no vaccines delivered to the province in over a week and limited quantities are now expected over the next few weeks due to shipment delays and supply cutbacks.
Merriman also noted how these impacts have resulted in the cancellation of some vaccine clinics in recent days. He said if the province doesn’t get all the COVID-19 vaccines that were initially promised by the federal government, it will be challenging to get the second doses completed in the recommended time frame.
He said mass immunization is expected to begin in April, however those plans are in jeopardy now.
“As it sits right now, we probably wouldn’t be able to have everyone have access to vaccines until late this fall,” said the minister when asked when he believes every person in Saskatchewan would have access to vaccines based on current supply projections from the federal government.
“Saskatchewan’s ability to vaccinate our residents is entirely dependent on a reliable supply of vaccines and reliable information about the number of vaccines we expect to receive each week. Simply put, we need more vaccines and we need more reliable information about when we are receiving those vaccines.”
Merriman suggested that it would be helpful if the federal government provided projected delivery schedules from vaccine manufacturers to the Saskatchewan government.
The health minister also mentioned is concerns about Pfizer wanting to relabel its vials to say there are six doses instead of five. He explained how Saskatchewan health care workers administering the vaccines have only been able to get a sixth dose in about half the Pfizer vials.
Merriman stressed that relabeling the vials does not mean there are more vaccines and asked Health Canada to step in on this issue.
“This should be viewed as an added benefit, not the standard for counting the number of doses,” he said.
