N.S. ramps up vaccine rollout, sets goal of all residents fully vaccinated by end of August

HALIFAX -

Nova Scotia is ramping up the province’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout with the goal of all residents being fully vaccinated by the end of August.

"Moving up our vaccination rollout by more than a month is no small feat. We are expanding where we can, as quickly as we can," said Premier Iain Rankin in a news release. "It is only because of the countless hours that hundreds of people across our health-care system have, and will, put in that we can fully protect more Nova Scotians sooner."

In a release issued Tuesday, Nova Scotia says they are extending clinic hours and opening more clinics throughout the province, including:

• Converting two primary assessment centres into community vaccination clinics in Halifax (Bayers Lake) and New Glasgow.
• Opening a temporary community vaccination clinic in Berwick.
• Reopening the health-care worker vaccination clinic at St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish for scheduled appointments for the general public.
• Organizing an additional vaccine clinic for newcomers, scheduled to take place at the Newcomer Health Clinic in Halifax on June 26 and 27 for clinic patients.

The province has also partnered with the Halifax Convention Centre, Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Red Cross and IWK Health Centre to open a community vaccination clinic in Halifax’s Nova Centre. The province says that clinic is scheduled to open later this week to immunize people with scheduled second doses, and will expand in the coming days to offer a walk-in service only to people who need a first dose of vaccine.

"Having high coverage rates with two doses of vaccine is key to safely reopening. Our ability to move up our timeline from end of September to end of August demonstrates that we have a strong vaccine rollout," said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health in a news release. "I am proud of the program we have created and the dedication of our immunizers and volunteers on the front-lines and of those who are working behind the scenes."

 

The province says all Nova Scotians age 65 and older will have an opportunity to be fully vaccinated by early July.

According to the province’s online dashboard, Nova Scotia is leading the country in first dose vaccinations at 71.1 per cent of the overall population as of Monday. The national average is 66 per cent.

The province says they expect to deliver more than 100,000 doses a week, over the next four weeks. It is expected that more than 245,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive by the end of June, in addition to regular shipments of the Pfizer vaccine. According to the province, those combined shipments are enough to vaccinate half of the province's eligible population.

Nova Scotia has reduced second dose interval for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to 35 days, and 28 days for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The province continues to move up second dose appointments via email. As of Friday, anyone who received their first dose on, or before May 14, is eligible to book their second dose.