News of new vaccines being approved has resulted in some accelerated timelines for the province’s vaccine rollout.
Public Health has designated first responders and frontline workers as first in line for the new AstraZeneca vaccine when it arrives in the province. That news comes off the back of the announcement that a fourth vaccine, from Johnson and Johnson, has been approved.
At Friday’s COVID-19 briefing, Premier Andrew Furey announced that the government’s hope is to have a vaccine available to anyone who wants it by the end of June, several months ahead of the initial September goal.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald added to that by saying that, as long as vaccine supply stays on track and officials can move through the priority groups, they may start talking about moving to phase 3 by mid-May.
Health Minister Dr. John Haggie even raised the possibility of moving to the lowest alert level within months.
He says everything is speculative right now, and we need to have current trends continue. However, he thinks there is a real chance that by the end of the summer we could move into Alert Level 1.