Sask. COVID-19 vaccination rate second highest in Canada

REGINA — Saskatchewan’s vaccine delivery plan has seen issues around supply and who is being prioritized, but the efficiency of the plan has also been leading Canada over the past few months.

"Saskatchewan continues to stick it to COVID faster than any other province in Canada. We have now delivered almost 300,000 vaccinations, and over 70,000 shots were done in the last week," Health Minister Paul Merriman stated during Tuesday’s COVID-19 update.

As of Tuesday, Saskatchewan has vaccinated 21.8 per cent of its population with at least one dose of vaccine, which is second among the provinces behind only Quebec at 24.2 per cent.

The province’s vaccine plan has also been efficient at distributing doses, having administered 89.4 per cent of doses received from the federal government, which leads the country by seven per cent.

Saskatchewan set new single day records for vaccine doses delivered for four straight days last week, topping out at 13,170 doses administered on Sunday.

The plan has been picking up steam over the past few months. In January, Saskatchewan averaged 1,020 doses per day.

That rate increased slightly in February to 1,565 doses per day, but the province picked up the pace significantly in March, averaging 3,914 doses per day and more than doubling the amount of doses delivered over the first three months of the plan.

Through 13 days in April, Saskatchewan has almost doubled its daily average from March with 7,548 doses going into people’s arms each day.

Currently in Saskatchewan, anyone between the ages of 48-54 can be vaccinated at Regina’s drive-thru clinic and between the ages of 52-54 at all other drive-thru clinics.

Anyone 52 years of age and older can book an appointment online or over the phone. Pregnant women, youth aged 16 to 17 who are clinically extremely vulnerable and everyone over 40 in the Far North is also eligible for their first dose.