A total of 7,400 first-dose appointments have been booked by eligible Manitobans at the first super site at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg since it opened. First-dose appointments are currently being accepted from Jan. 11 to 17 and individuals are also making their second-dose appointments on the same call.

Yesterday, a total of 860 people received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the RBC Convention Centre, for a total of 2,584 first does administered there to date. Since Manitoba’s immunization campaign began, 6,026 people have received a first-dose immunization including:

  • 4,536 from the Winnipeg health region;
  • 650 from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region;
  • 490 from the Interlake-Eastern health region;
  • 255 from Prairie Mountain Health; and
  • 28 from the Northern health region.

A total of 302 people also received their second dose of the vaccine yesterday.

There are no changes to the eligibility criteria for immunization today. Eligible health-care workers are those who have direct contact with patients and:

  • work in critical care units (intensive care units only, no age restrictions);
  • work in long-term care facilities, born on or before Dec. 31, 1975;
  • work in acute care facilities, born on or before Dec. 31, 1975;
  • assigned to a COVID-19 immunization clinic or designated COVID-19 testing site (no age restrictions);
  • work in a laboratory handling COVID-19 specimens (no age restrictions and may include some individuals who do not have direct contact with patients, based on their role);
  • work on a designated COVID-19 hospital ward (no age restrictions and a complete list is available online); and
  • work in provincial or federal correctional facilities (no age restrictions).

The province has been actively recruiting to support the immunization campaign in the coming weeks and months. To support an immunization program that can be scaled based on vaccine supply, the province’s goal is to plan for staffing levels that are 50 per cent higher than expected vaccine deliveries.

To date, more than 750 immunizers, clinic managers, clinical leads, navigators and post-immunization observers have been hired and include:

  • immunizers – 317 in Winnipeg, 23 in Brandon;
  • clinic managers – three in Winnipeg, one in Brandon;
  • clinical leads – 92 in Winnipeg, two in Brandon;
  • navigators – 193 in Winnipeg, 21 in Brandon;
  • post-immunization observers – 100 in Winnipeg, 10 in Brandon.

Regional health authorities are also hiring or reassigning appropriate staff to support immunization, when this can be done without affecting their normal operations and they would not be reflected in these numbers. In Prairie Mountain Health, the current focus is on hiring navigators and immunizers for the super site in Brandon, which opens on Jan. 18. All positions will also be available to support the super site in Thompson, which opens on Feb. 1.

Recruitment is being supported with a micro-credential at Red River College for eligible immunizers and the decision made by the province in December to expand the professions able to provide the COVID-19 vaccine. Manitoba is also hiring provincial and regional immunization managers, who will be dedicated to supporting the long-term, successful rollout of the vaccine campaign. For more information about all available positions, visit www.manitoba.ca/vaccine/jobs.html.

To date, Manitoba has received a total of 22,230 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which includes approximately 7,000 doses delivered earlier this week. There are currently about 17,000 doses of Pfizer in the province, which will be used for the remainder of this week’s immunizations as well as appointments for first- and second-dose immunizations that will be scheduled at the super site next week. Next week’s shipment of the Pfizer vaccine is expected to be 9,360 doses.

To date, Manitoba has received 7,300 doses of Moderna. Of these, 5,300 have been allocated for First Nation immunization priorities that include:

  • essential health-care workers providing services in remote and isolated communities who cannot access the provincial vaccination supersites;
  • residents and staff of personal care homes and elder care facilities;
  • people over the age of 60 living in remote and isolated communities; and
  • people over the age of 70 living in non-remote communities.

All of the remaining Moderna doses will be used to support the immunization campaign at personal care homes announced yesterday.

More information about the vaccine campaign in Manitoba is available at manitoba.ca.