As COVID-19 vaccine supplies gradually ramp up across the country, most provinces and territories have released details of who can expect to receive a shot in the coming weeks. Here’s a list of their plans to date:
Newfoundland and Labrador
The province says Phase 1 will see priority health-care workers and staff at long term care homes get immunized first.
Other priority groups will be offered the vaccine once logistics allow.
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Nova Scotia
The provincial website says the first phase of vaccines will be given to residents of long-term care homes, those who work directly with patients, those who are 80 and older, and those who are at risk for other reasons including First Nations and African Nova Scotian communities.
The next phase will include anyone who works in a hospital and may come into contact with a patient, community health-care providers such as dental and pharmacy workers, correctional facilities, shelters, temporary foreign worker quarters and those working in food security industries.
The third phase will include all Nova Scotians going down in five-year increments.
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Prince Edward Island
The province says the first phase of its vaccination drive, currently slated to last until March, targets residents and staff of long-term and community care, as well as health-care workers with direct patient contact at higher risk of COVID-19 exposure.
Those 80 and older, adults in Indigenous communities, and truck drivers and other rotational workers are also included.
The next phase, which is scheduled to begin in April, will target those above 70 and essential workers.
The province intends to make the vaccine available to everyone in late summer and fall.
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New Brunswick
The province is also focusing on vaccinating those living in long-term care homes, health-care workers with direct patient contact, adults in First Nations communities and older New Brunswickers in the first phase, which lasts until at least March.
The next phase is scheduled to begin in the spring and includes residents and staff of communal settings, other health-care workers including pharmacists, first responders and critical infrastructure employees.
The government website says once the vaccine supply is continuous and in large enough quantities, the entire population will be offered the shots.
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Quebec
The province’s proposed order of priority for vaccination according to its website is those in residential and long-term care centres, workers in the health and social services network, followed by those in isolated and remote communities, people 80 years or older, and then the general population in 10-year increments.
It says the vaccination of children and pregnant women will be determined based on future studies of vaccine safety and efficacy in those populations.
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Ontario
The province’s health minister says Ontario is not ready to release a detailed plan for its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines because its supply of the shots has been unreliable.
Christine Elliott says the province knows which age groups it wants to prioritize but delayed deliveries and unclear levels of future supply mean its tentative immunization schedule has been changing.
The province has previously mapped out a three-phase approach to its rollout.
Phase 1, which is still ongoing, reserves shots for those in long-term care, high-risk retirement home residents, certain classes of health-care workers, and people who live in congregate care settings.
The province announced last week that all Indigenous adults and adults receiving chronic home care will be next in line once all reasonable efforts to immunize the highest priority groups have been made.
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Manitoba
Health officials plan to start having COVID-19 vaccines available for the general population, beginning with people over 80, in March.
Dr. Joss Reimer, a member of the province’s vaccine task force, says vaccination teams will focus on long-term hospital patients and people who live in supportive housing where they are assisted with their daily needs starting next week.
She says the next phase, taking place over March and April, will involve a wider swath of health-care workers, people in jails, shelters and other group settings, and the general population over the age of 80.
She says inoculations could be open to all adults in the province by August if new vaccines are approved and supplies are steady.
The plan does not include a separate category for essential workers — something that Reimer says will be considered as vaccine supplies increase.
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Saskatchewan
The province is still in the first phase of its vaccination rollout, which reserves doses for long-term care residents and staff, health-care workers at elevated risk of COVID-19 exposure, seniors over the age of 70 and anyone 50 or older living in a remote area.
The province says based on information provided by Health Canada, the combined quantities of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines expected by the end of March will allow less than half of those priority populations to receive two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The next phase will be focused on vaccinating the general population by age.
It says once vaccine supplies allow phase one priority populations to be fully immunized, Saskatchewan will begin immunizing the general population in 10-year increments.
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Alberta
The government’s website says the province will be offering second shots of the COVID-19 vaccine within 42 days after initial doses are administered.
Initial immunization efforts have focused on long-term care residents and certain health-care professionals, with plans to expand vaccine offerings by the end of the month.
While the exact dates and details have not been hammered out, February will see seniors over 75, First Nations, Métis and people 65 and older living in a First Nations community start to receive their vaccines.
Work is underway to identify target populations for future phases of the provincial rollout.
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British Columbia
B.C.’s plan reveals that after the most vulnerable groups have been immunized, shots will be given out according to age, with the oldest residents first in line.
Currently hospital workers, those living in Indigenous communities, and long-term care residents, staff and essential visitors are among those being vaccinated in Stage 1 of the province’s plan.
Stage 2 will include people 80 and older, Indigenous seniors over 65, general medical practitioners and specialists.
In April, the province will start vaccinating the general public according to five-year age groupings, starting with seniors aged 75 to 79 before moving on to those aged 70 to 74 and so on.
But Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the approval of more vaccines may mean the province’s plan could be revised to immunize essential workers between April and June.
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Nunavut
The government website says Nunavut expects enough vaccines to immunize 75 per cent of its residents over the age of 18 by the end of March.
Details have not yet been released about how the rest of the territory’s inoculation drive will work.
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Northwest Territories
The first phase of the vaccine is underway with priority for those over the age of 60, people who have existing chronic disease and comorbidities, resident workers who live in the territories but regularly work elsewhere or live in work camps, and those in remote communities.
The government website says the rest of the eligible adult population can expect to get the vaccine starting in March.
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Yukon
The government website says it has vaccinated high risk health-care workers, adults 70 and older, and people who are marginalized and living in group settings.
Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Hanley says uncertainty about the arrival date of the next vaccine shipment has forced a delay in a planned immunization clinic for the general public in Whitehorse.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2021
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
