Vaccine Delivery Plan: Regina pilot to expand as Phase 1 approaches

More health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccine WATCH: Thousands of health care workers will receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Marc Smith reports.

REGINA — Two health care workers received the first COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, now the Saskatchewan Health Authority is expanding on who is included in the rollout.

The pilot, which includes 1,950 health care workers, will now include to key frontline staff at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and anesthetists.  Additional priority groups are being considered depending on uptake.

The pilot is part of the provinces Vaccine Delivery Plan, and is the first in a series of steps to deliver the vaccine to the general public.

Those who receive the vaccine will need a second dose 21 days later in order to receive its full 95 per cent effectiveness against the virus.

More of the 1,950 healthcare workers in Regina that are part of the SHA’s pilot phase are receiving their first doses this week.

The SHA expects another shipment of the vaccine to arrive between Dec. 21 and Jan. 3 and then weekly shipments to come to the province after that.

The province said it expects 202,052 doses of the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021, and that widespread access should begin in April.