CALGARY -- While other provinces have detailed how they will handle vaccination priority and logistics, Alberta has outlined little beyond the initial phase.
Wednesday premier Jason Kenney said there are two reasons.
“Frankly, we wanted to see what other provinces are doing,” Kenney says. “We haven’t really even gotten into Phase 1B yet. We don’t have enough vaccines.”
More doses are now on the way, but still not enough to make a significant dent in Alberta. In total 379,140 doses are expected in mostly equal weekly shipments between this week and the end of March.
The expected doses are almost entirely the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Just 14,100 doses are the Moderna product, expected at the end of February. Moderna has not made any commitments for March.
Dr Daniel Gregson of the Cumming School of Medicine says Albertans need to stay patient while supply is still a major obstacle.
“It’s hard for people to plan when they don’t have a good idea when the vaccine is coming,” Dr Gregson says. “It’s very difficult if you start telling people they will be vaccinated by September if you don’t keep that promise.”
Canada has lagged behind much of the developed world in obtaining vaccine supplies. Wednesday morning online tracker Our World in Data had Canada placed 54 globally for COVID-19 vaccinations.
