A record 41,754 appointments were booked on Friday after age eligibility was lowered to 12 and older. The previous record was 26,000 on May 13. Parents are reminded to book the appointment under their child’s name, not their own name. If that parent had already received a first dose, the appointment would be cancelled as second-dose appointments are not currently being accepted.
Parents who used their own names to book their child’s appointment and received a cancellation email are encouraged to call or go online to book again.
Age Eligibility
Young people aged 12 and up are now eligible to book their first-dose appointments.
To make the visit as easy as possible, young people aged 12 to 15 can either attend the appointment with a parent, guardian or caregiver, or bring a signed consent form at the time of their appointment. If the youth attends without a guardian and without a signed consent form, they will go through an informed consent process with a clinical lead to assess their ability to consent on their own and proceed with the vaccine.
Young people aged 16 and 17 can sign their own consent form. There are about 111,000 young people aged 12 to 17 in Manitoba. Appointments can be booked (toll-free) at 1-844-626-8222 or online at protectmb.ca.
Urban Indigenous Clinics
The urban Indigenous clinics are designed to increase accessibility and provide culturally safe spaces for First Nations (status and non-status), Métis and Inuit peoples. When non-Indigenous people make appointments or use the walk-in spaces at those sites, it limits access for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.
At this time, officials ask that only people who self-identity as First Nations (status or non-status), Métis or Inuit or people who share a household with someone who identifies as Indigenous attend these clinics. Non-Indigenous people are asked to make their appointments at super sites, community pop-up clinics, medical clinics and pharmacies.
AstraZeneca
Manitoba has adjusted its approach to the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine in response to ongoing evidence and supply. First doses can continue to be administered, but only to people who might not otherwise be immunized at other sites. Most doses of this vaccine will now be held for second-dose immunizations only, so people who have received their first dose of this vaccine will be able to receive their second dose within the recommended timeframes, following national clinical guidance. Manitoba is also monitoring decisions on whether different types of vaccines can be used to administer second doses. This decision does not affect Manitoba’s overall timeframe for ensuring all Manitobans 18 and over who wish to be vaccinated to be able to receive a first dose of other vaccines by June 8.
Vaccine Administration
To date, 657,634 doses of vaccine have been administered in Manitoba.
Appointments
Eligible people can now book appointments at all vaccination super sites: Gimli, Dauphin, Steinbach, Winnipeg (RBC Convention Centre and Leila locations), Brandon, Thompson, Selkirk and Morden. Eligible individuals can book their appointment online at protectmb.ca with an email address and health card number, or by calling (toll-free) 1-844-626-8222 (1-844-MAN-VACC).
Pop-up clinics are taking place in communities throughout the province next week. Appointments can be made by calling (toll-free) 1-844-626-8222 (1-844-MAN-VACC).
Indigenous people can also choose to receive their vaccine at urban Indigenous pop-up clinics led by community organizations in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson and Portage la Prairie.
The Pas and Flin Flon clinics run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and availability is as follows:
The Pas – Roy H. Johnson Arena (523 Smith St.):
- May 18 and 19 are for walk-ins only.
- May 25 is full for bookings, but accepting walk-ins.
- May 26 is accepting both bookings and walk-ins.
Flin Flon – Flin Flon Community Hall (2 North Ave.):
- May 20 and 21 are for walk-ins only.
- May 27 and 28 are accepting both bookings and walk-ins.
People will be able to begin booking second-dose appointments on May 22. Individuals who are immunocompromised or have other prioritized health conditions will be able to book their appointments first. More details on this process will provided soon.
To book a second-dose appointment, people will need to provide the date of their first dose and the type of vaccine received. This information can be accessed at manitoba.ca with your health card number and email address. Otherwise, people can contact their local public health office to request this information. A printed copy or proof of immunization is not required to book or attend your second-dose appointment.
Medical clinics and pharmacies will contact people who received their AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine at these locations to book second doses, which are likely to begin in June.
Whenever possible, parents and caregivers are encouraged to make child-care arrangements prior to attending their vaccination appointment. However, parents are able to bring their children with them to their appointment as long as they also wear masks and follow good physical distancing.
Vaccine Supply and Distribution
To date, a total of 767,670 doses of vaccine have been delivered to Manitoba. This includes:
- 506,610 doses of Pfizer vaccine;
- 176,800 doses of the Moderna vaccine; and
- 84,260 doses of the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine.
This week, Manitoba expects to receive an additional 73,710 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 37,600 doses of Moderna vaccine and 23,800 doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccine.
Additional Information
Recently, the province introduced changes to the Employment Standards Code that would allow Manitoba workers to take up to three hours of paid leave to receive COVID-19 vaccinations during work hours. The proposed amendments make it mandatory for employers to allow employees up to three hours of paid leave each time the employee requires a dose of vaccine. Employees who need more time to travel to vaccination appointments or who suffer from vaccine side effects would be allowed to take a longer unpaid leave. The new paid leave requirements for vaccination appointments complement the recently announced voluntary Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave program, which will reimburse employers up to $600 per employee for a maximum of five full days of COVID-19 related sick leave, which can include vaccinations.
Anyone who has been in Manitoba for one month or more can receive the vaccine at no cost if they meet provincial eligibility requirements.
People in Manitoba can now access interpreter services in over 100 languages when they are booking their COVID-19 vaccine appointment by phone. Callers can also request spoken language or American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services at one of the province’s super-site locations.
When attending a vaccine appointment, people are reminded to bring their completed consent form (available online at protectmb.ca), wear a short-sleeved shirt, wear a mask, and bring their health card or other form of identification. To help support good physical distancing on site, people should arrive no more than 15 minutes before their scheduled appointment time.
More information about the vaccine campaign in Manitoba is available at manitoba.ca and protectmb.ca. For regular updates, visit protectmb.ca and sign up for the weekly e-newsletter.
All data in this bulletin is current as of May 16, unless noted otherwise.
