Ontario
Ontario received 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine last weekend and began giving them out on Dec. 14.
Retired gen. Rick Hiller, who is leading Ontario's vaccine task force, said half the shots would be administered last week, and the other half would be intentionally held back to give the same workers a required second dose 21 days later.
"Given the sort of information flow of what we know about the supply, which is very little at this time ... we decided it was better to err on the side of caution," he said.
An additional 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive later this month and are to be provided to 14 hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots.
Hillier has said the province also expects to receive between 30,000 and 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the new year, pending its approval by Health Canada.
Ontario's Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said hospitals receiving the first shots have made security arrangements to ensure the vaccine is safe from theft.
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Manitoba
A doctor who works in an intensive care unit became the first person in Manitoba to get the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec 16.
Premier Brian Pallister said some 900 health-care workers in critical care units would be the first to receive the vaccine.
As more shipments come in, priority will be given to other health-care workers, seniors and Indigenous people.
The province plans to vaccinate more than 100,000 people by March -- that's roughly seven per cent of Manitoba's population.
Officials say they've been setting up a large-scale "supersite" to deliver the vaccine. The first freezer able to store the Pfizer vaccine at low temperatures has been delivered and installed, with another four on the way.
The province says the vaccine will become more widely available at a larger number of sites, similar to a conventional vaccination campaign, such as the annual flu shot.
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Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan began its vaccination program on Dec. 15 as two health-care workers got the first shots.
Premier Scott Moe says the province received 1,950 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine.
The first official stage of Saskatchewan’s vaccination program will be in late December when the province receives more doses.
It will target more health-care workers, staff and residents in long-term care, seniors over 80 and people in remote areas who are at least 50.
Some 202,052 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive within the first quarter of next year, and there are to be 10,725 weekly allocations.
Moe says vaccinations for the general population is expected to begin in April.
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Alberta
The first vaccinations in Calgary and Edmonton were given Dec. 15 to health-care workers.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced in a video released on Dec. 14 and recorded next to a cargo plane at Calgary International Airport that the province's first 3,900 vaccine doses had arrived.
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro said another 25,000 Pfizer doses would be coming this week and would be given to health workers.
Doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected by the end of the month.
The province says it eventually plans to roll out the vaccine from 30 different locations.
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British Columbia
The first COVID-19 vaccination was administered on Dec. 15 in British Columbia. Those working in long-term care facilities and intensive care units were the first people to take part in the province's immunization program.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said more than 5,600 people have been immunized so far with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Workers in long-term care facilities are at the top of the list to get the vaccine.
The province is expecting to receive 792,000 doses of both vaccines between January and March, said Henry, allowing about 549,000 people to receive their first dose and another 240,000 to receive their second.
Henry expects about 400,000 people to be vaccinated by March.
The province said it is developing a system so people can register to get the vaccine and receive a formal record of immunization.
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Nunavut
Nunavut's premier says the territory will get the vaccine made by Moderna in the first quarter of 2021.
Joe Savikataaq says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told him Nunavut will get enough doses to vaccinate 75 per cent of the population.
Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says Nunavut will prioritize elders and health-care workers first for the vaccine.
Savikataaq says his government is still working on its plan to roll out the vaccine once it arrives in the territory.
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Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories says it will receive 7,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the end of this month.
That is enough for 3,600 residents to receive the required two doses of the vaccine.
Elders and health-care workers will be prioritized for the vaccine.
Health Minister Julie Green says the territory will roll out its vaccine distribution plan in early 2021.
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Yukon
Yukon's minister of health says now that Health Canada has approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, immunization clinics will begin in the territory in the first week of January.
Pauline Frost says approval is the "exciting news Yukoners have been waiting for."
She says delivery of 7,200 doses, expected by the end of this month, will be enough to allow 3,600 residents of the territory to receive the two doses needed to provide immunity against the virus.
Long-term care residents and staff will get the jab first and Frost says further shipments of vaccine will arrive next month, with 75 per cent of Yukon's eligible adult population expected to be vaccinated by early 2021.
https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/a-...-said-about-covid-19-vaccine-plans-1.24259769