Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: Government of Alberta)

By Shaun Penner

Won't be mandatory

Province announces COVID-19 vaccine task force, distribution plan

Dec 2, 2020 | 4:46 PM

Though he stressed they would not be mandatory, Premier Jason Kenney announced the creation of a provincial COVID-19 vaccine task force which has the mandate to execute the distribution of the vaccine to Albertans as soon as they arrive in the province.

The task force will be led by Paul Wynnyk, deputy minister of municipal affairs, and will be a “multi-disciplinary team drawn from across the public sector.”

Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Kenney said vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer will be ready to be distributed within weeks, despite the two not yet receiving emergency approval by Health Canada.

“Smooth and rapid vaccine distribution will not only be essential to our economic recovery, but they will be a matter a matter of life and death for many Albertans and their families.”

The vaccine, when it arrives, will be rolled out in three phases by the taskforce, said Kenney.

The first phase is set to begin in January and go through March. This phase would see an anticipated 435,000 Albertans, or about 10 per cent of the province’s population, receive the vaccine in the most urgent settings. Those include long-term care homes, on-reserve First Nations people over age 65, all seniors aged 75 and older, and health-care workers.

“We have been assured by the federal government that shipments will begin to arrive by January 4 and will continue to arrive in waves throughout the early part of next year,” said Kenney.

Phase two is slated to go from April to between June and September, with the goal of having about 30 per cent of Albertans vaccinated by the end of this phase. Wynnyk’s task force will be responsible for identifying the priority group within this phase, based off phase one of the roll out.

Phase three, Kenney hopes, will begin in the summer or fall of 2021. The goal of this phase will be to have the rest of the general population vaccinated.

He adds though that the vaccine will not be made mandatory, and the provincial government will be updating the Public Health Act to reflect that.

“I want to be clear: Alberta’s government will not make any mandatory vaccination. Some think this is controversial, but we don’t live in a country where the government can inject you with something against your will.”

However, he is urging Albertans to get the vaccination when it is officially rolled out.

“We need as many Albertans as possible to get vaccinated, and let me be clear about that,” said Kenney. “I will certainly choose to receive this vaccine when it’s my turn and I strongly urge others to do so.”

Kenney said this does provide some “light at the end of tunnel” when it comes to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic, which is entering its ninth month in Alberta. With this news though, he stressed that there is still a long way to go.

“All of us will have to continue to follow public health guidelines even after the first wave of vaccinations have occurred,” said Kenney.

“Of course, there will be updates and changes to this plan as more details around vaccine delivery become available, and as the phases of this plan are announced.”

The Premier said Alberta Health Services has 13 vaccine depots and that there are 17 other non-Alberta Health Services depots which can receive, store and distribute the Moderna vaccine. This vaccine needs to be stored and transported at -20 degrees.

Three of these 30 facilities can store the Pfizer vaccine, which needs a storage temperature -80 degrees celsius.