Manitoba hits COVID-19 vaccination milestone on Saturday

Jennifer Cochrane, a public health nurse with Prairie Mountain Health in Virden, readies the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during the first day of immunizations at the Brandon COVID-19 vaccination supersite at the Keystone Centre on Monday (Jan. 18, 2021). (Courtesy the Government of Manitoba)

WINNIPEG — Manitoba's health minister said the province hit a COVID-19 vaccination milestone on Saturday.

In a news release, Health Minister Heather Stefanson said, as of Saturday, the province has administered more than 200,000 vaccine doses.

According to the province's vaccination dashboard, the province also reached its target for daily maximum capacity. The dashboard said the province has the ability to administer 20,918 doses a day.

The dashboard said the total number of doses administered is now 204,107 – accounting for 13.4 per cent of Manitobans 18-years-old and older.

“This milestone we achieved today is one of many we still hope to achieve thanks to the work of key stakeholders, health providers, as well as the leadership of our First Nations partners,” Johanu Botha, operations lead of the Vaccination Implementation Task Force, said in a news release.

“We still have much work ahead of us and remain focused on putting thousands of needles in arms in the biggest immunization campaign in our history.”

The province said it is currently using three vaccines – the Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccines. Though the single-dose vaccine Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) has been approved for use by Health Canada, the province said the doses are not yet available.

The province dashboard said, as of Saturday, Manitoba has received a total of 343,730 COVID-19 vaccine doses.

There are five vaccination supersites in Manitoba, including the locations in Winnipeg, Selkirk, Brandon, Morden and Thompson. The province said there are plans to open other sites in the coming weeks.