SASKATOON Amid climbing numbers of variant cases and the resulting calls for the province to shift its COVID-19 vaccine strategy to focus on essential workers, over a dozen Saskatoon police officers were vaccinated with extra doses from local clinics. We have had 17 frontline officers vaccinated with end of day surplus doses thanks to STC (Saskatoon Tribal Council) and Lighthouse clinics, Saskatoon Police Service Chief Troy Cooper tweeted on Thursday. Only 298 more doses would vaccinate the rest of our front line. If the plan changes it won’t take long to get that done, Cooper said. There were 189 variant cases confirmed in the Saskatoon area as of April 7, according to the province s COVID-19 update on Thursday. That s up from 18 as of March 29.
Health system could be overwhelmed if vaccinations not expanded: SUN melfortjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from melfortjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SASKATOON The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) is calling on the province to pivot its COVID-19 vaccination plan to include essential workers. Currently, vaccination priority is based on age in Saskatchewan. SUN says it’s time to adjust that strategy and give the shot to all essential workers including grocery store workers, police officers and teachers. Tracy Zambory, president of SUN, says it’s critical to include essential workers as new variants of COVID-19 are spreading across Saskatchewan and ICU beds are already over capacity. “If we keep ourselves on this trajectory we must change our vaccination strategy,” Zambory tells CTV News.
SUN adds its voice to organizations calling for change to Sask COVID vaccine rollout cjme.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cjme.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Zambory said she has spoken with Health Minister Paul Merriman, requesting eligibility be extended to health-care workers who are not already eligible, arguing the variant could exacerbate a shortage of workers if a large number are forced to self-isolate.
“We have to be able to get some release in the system to be able to manage the health-care needs that are in front of us right now,” she said.
Her comments came a day after the Saskatchewan Medical Association, which represents the province’s doctors, issued a statement warning that the government’s refusal to tweak its vaccine plan “will result in more lost lives and long-term illness due to COVID-19, and put non-COVID patients at even greater risk given delays in the services and care they need.”