The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in the province.
A Dalhousie University facility with an ultra-low temperature freezer received the 1950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Tuesday.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health Doctor Gaynor Watson-Creed says the first clinic, for frontline healthcare workers dealing with COVID-19 patients, will run at the Dalhousie University site Wednesday.
“I think our approach here is, quite frankly, a conservative one. We want to make sure that people are immunized fully when they get immunized,” she says.
Doctor Watson-Creed says they expect to vaccinate 350 people on the first day.
She says it is not practically possible to give this round to nursing home residents, because the vaccine can’t travel, based on the manufacturer’s directions.
“We don’t want to waste the vaccine; we don’t want to let it sit and wait until we accumulate more. Let’s start, at least, for the healthcare workers who can come to it, and continue to figure out how we work on getting it out to long term care facilities,” she says. “Rather than wait until we get more vaccine, let’s use it on another priority group.”
The Department of Health and Wellness reported six new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, three cases in Central Zone, two in Northern Zone, and one in Western Zone, 57 active infections provincewide.
