The race is on for the province to nearly double its capacity and deliver 20,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses a day next month.
In just four weeks, vaccine deliveries are expected to ramp up significantly, but on Friday, the province only had the capacity to dole out about 12,500 lifesaving shots.
The Manitoba government has set a goal to give out 20,000 jabs daily in order to keep up with the minimum 1.5 million doses it will receive from the federal government from April to June.
Considering recent changes that allow second doses to be delayed as many as four months, Johanu Botha, operational lead for the COVID-19 vaccine task force, said he is certain the province will make good on its promise and provide a single shot to all adult Manitobans as early as May 18.
The new timeline is contingent on the province receiving a steady and high supply of vaccines from the federal government, Botha said.
If the province gets a steady supply of vaccines from the federal government it can administer 20,000 doses a day, says Johanu Botha, operational lead for the COVID-19 vaccine task force. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)
“If that’s the case, and our system is up and running, as it will be, to administer 20,000 doses a day come the first of April, we will have all eligible Manitobans vaccinated,” Botha said. “We’re confident we can do this, if the supply arrives more consistently.”
The vaccine task force had earlier estimated all eligible Manitobans would get a shot by the end of August in the best-case scenario.
The expedited schedule follows a recommendation by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization that provinces delay second doses as long as the vaccine supply is scarce.
Attention now turns to the province’s ability to deliver.
Heavy hitters: mass vaccination clinics
Manitoba plans to use high-volume vaccination clinics — dubbed super-sites — to give roughly 14,000 shots a day beginning in April.
Right now, the province has three such clinics capable of administering 6,499 shots a day, including the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, the Keystone Centre in Brandon, and two locations in Thompson: a clinic at the recreation centre, and one at “Vaxport,” the provincial air hangar. A fourth super-site clinic will open Monday at the former Selkirk and District General Hospital, with an estimated daily capacity of 1,000 shots.
A fifth clinic will open at the Access Event Centre in Morden. An opening date has yet to be announced and the province has yet to confirm how many doses the clinic will provide daily.
Where the balance of doses will be offered — as many as 6,000 daily — remained uncertain Friday.
Provincial plans have called for a total of 13 super-sites, including two more in Winnipeg, a third for the north in either Flin Flon or The Pas, and one additional site in Southern Health and Interlake-Eastern, to be open in April. So far, no additional clinics have been announced.
Recently, Botha said the search for suitable facilities for mass clinics has been challenged due to strict infrastructure requirements for infection prevention and control.
KEVIN KING/WINNIPEG SUN
Gisella Greschner, 97, receives her COVID-19 vaccination at the convention centre in Winnipeg, one of three of the province’s so-called supersites. (Kevin King / Pool files)
“So what we’re looking at in terms of what will help us leap up to 20,000, it may be another super-site or two, but I think probably what will get us there at this point will be an array of pop-up sites,” Botha said. “We will continue on with building up to our around 13 super-sites, but that timeline… is impacted by the appropriate infection prevention and control measures.”
In the meantime, officials said the clinic at the convention centre will be expanded to towards meeting the April goal.
When it comes to staffing, the province says it has hired 1,647 immunizers — more than enough to deliver 14,000 doses a day at super-sites. Immunizers can also be assigned for post-immunization observation, as clinical leads or clinic managers, based on experience, the province said.
Earlier this week, 165 people were added to the provincial vaccine workforce, for a total of 2,224 staff. The province said it continues to recruit for clinic navigators outside Winnipeg and is in the process of hiring 50 students to begin working full-time as of April 1 to fill positions across Manitoba. Recruitment continues for immunizers in southern Manitoba.
Familiar and convenient: pharmacies and clinics
The province has recruited enough pharmacists and physicians to give up to 5,000 daily vaccine doses — a quarter of the planned capacity — through community clinics and pharmacies.
On average, individual clinics and pharmacies will give up to 20 doses a day throughout the spring.
However, physicians and pharmacists will only be able to hit the targeted 5,000 daily doses if enough fridge-stable vaccines are sent to Manitoba.
Currently, only the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines can be stored between 2 C and 8 C, with the former recommended for people under 65 years of age. The national advisory clinic has not provided recommendations on how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be used.
Barret Procyshyn, pharmacist and co-owner of Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, said his pharmacy is ready to spring into action when the doses arrive.
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The province has recruited pharmacists and physicians to provide up to 5,000 daily vaccine doses through community clinics and pharmacies. (Jessica Hill / The Associated Press files)
It has designated space to offer COVID-19 vaccines, Procyshyn said, and has established an online waiting list where community members can sign up and provide information related to their eligibility.
As eligibility criteria are expanded, Procyshyn said his pharmacy will contact people on the list to offer them appointments. He said they will be able to do between 60 and 80 doses a day.
“It has been a lot of work, but this is a chance for pharmacists and our profession to step up and show that we’re front-line health-care providers,” Procyshyn said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of pharmacists, especially in rural areas, step up to the plate.
“That’s the only way people in these small towns are going to get their vaccines,” he said.
Meanwhile, Doctors Manitoba has prepared its own website to assist the public in connecting with physicians who give COVID-19 vaccines. The website, ManitobaVaccine.ca, will include a list of doctors providing the jabs as clinics open for appointments. Each clinic and pharmacy will book appointments directly for their clients.
Hard to reach: pop-up clinics and immunization teams
An estimated 1,000 doses will be given per day to people who live in congregate settings or in isolated communities, through focused immunization teams and pop-up clinics.
Vaccine booking changes
On Friday, Manitoba’s vaccine task force announced changes to the way vaccine appointments are booked as officials plan to speed up delivery of the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s the latest:
• Manitobans older than 87, and First Nations members older than 67, are eligible to get vaccinated.
• Age eligibility will be expanded in descending order. All Manitobans age 80 and up will likely be eligible to book vaccine appointments next week. Up-to-date eligibility requirements are posted on the government’s website here.
On Friday, Manitoba’s vaccine task force announced changes to the way vaccine appointments are booked as officials plan to speed up delivery of the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s the latest:
• Manitobans older than 87, and First Nations members older than 67, are eligible to get vaccinated.
• Age eligibility will be expanded in descending order. All Manitobans age 80 and up will likely be eligible to book vaccine appointments next week. Up-to-date eligibility requirements are posted on the government’s website here.
• Only one appointment will be booked per person as of Friday. (Previously, Manitobans were required to schedule a second-dose appointment before they could receive their first shot).
• Spouses and members of the same household can book their appointments at the same time, as long as they all meet the age requirements. This means they can travel to their appointment together. Only those who are old enough to be eligible can get the vaccine at the same time as their spouse.
• Manitobans who are between 50 to 64 years old and have serious health conditions will be next in line to receive the vaccine, at their doctor’s office or pharmacy. It is not yet possible to book appointments with a doctor or pharmacy, but they will set up their own booking systems. More information will be released when it’s available.
• Currently, the only way to book a vaccine appointment is by calling 1-844-626-8222. Appointments are limited to those who meet the age requirements. A Manitoba health card number is required. A consent form is available online to be printed out and taken to the appointment. Copies of the form are available on site.
• Online booking doesn’t yet exist in Manitoba. The province plans to launch an online booking portal in April.
• Manitobans with vaccine appointments will be directed to their nearest vaccine clinic. Currently, Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson each have one vaccine clinic. On March 8, a clinic will open in Selkirk. A clinic will open in Morden later this month.
• In response to concerns the vaccine super-site clinics have not been accessible enough for elderly Manitobans, members of the task force said Friday they were working to improve the situation and would place more chairs so people can sit and wait.
• In First Nations communities, vaccine clinics will start being set up later in March to offer the vaccine to everyone over 18.
• Plans are underway for the First Nations clinics. Information on where they will be located and how people can book appointments hasn’t yet been released. People living in or near First Nations will be able to receive the vaccine at their nearest super-site if they don’t want to wait for an immunization team to arrive in their community.
• The First Nations vaccine rollout is also following the province’s plan to deliver all first doses before continuing with the second vaccine dose.
The province says it has the capacity to offer 500 doses a day to people through focused immunization teams.
Currently, immunization teams are tasked with providing shots at assisted-living facilities and seniors homes, as well as at hospitals to immunize long-term patients. Nearly 3,000 residents and patients are scheduled for a vaccine at 70 locations throughout the province next week.
The same immunization teams will eventually go to provincial jails, family violence shelters, homeless shelters and transitional housing, group homes and addictions treatment facilities.
For rural and remote communities that cannot easily access a super-site clinic, the province plans to offer pop-up clinics. As of Friday, pop-up clinics could offer as many as 500 total daily doses.
However, no information has been provided about where pop-up clinics will be staged or when they would open. Churchill, Gillam, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Grand Rapids have been flagged for pop-up clinics.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
