Putting on the pressure: Maritime provinces race to vaccinate

HALIFAX -

With 47 active cases of COVID-19, Nova Scotia's chief of microbiology says the province has done a good job at controlling the third wave of the pandemic.

"We still have a few cases that are trickling in, which is just a reminder to people that we need to keep testing until we have everybody fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Todd Hatchette in Halifax.

As of Thursday, 961,653 doses of vaccine have been administered in Nova Scotia. 253,331 of them, second doses.

"The vaccine rollout has been going exceptionally well here in Nova Scotia. We are months ahead of schedule,” said Zach Churchill, Nova Scotia's health minister, from his office in Yarmouth.

The rollout is about to ramp up even more, with 130,000 doses of vaccine expected to go into arms next week. Nova Scotia is on track to surpass a million doses of vaccine on Monday.

"Not only are we vaccinating at a high pace, but it's happening everywhere, in every single community in this province, people have access to vaccine clinics and we are vaccinating all regions of this province at the same time,” said Churchill.

In Prince Edward Island, there is currently one active case of COVID-19.

About 82.9 per cent of people 12 and up have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 24 per cent of the eligible population have now had both doses.

New Brunswick has 25 active COVID cases.

The province says 799,981 doses of vaccine have been administered to date and 37.3 per cent of the New Brunswick’s eligible population is now fully vaccinated.

"I'm feeling pretty good about New Brunswick's response to our vaccination clinics and we're going to keep going,” said New Brunswick Health Minister Dorothy Shephard on Friday from Saint John.

Next week, New Brunswick will start using mobile vaccination clinics. More details are expected in the coming days, but Shephard says the clinics will be walk-in only.

"These clinics will be targeted for maybe some high traffic areas, hopefully making it more convenient for people to just drop in and get their first or second dose,” she said.

With the borders of all three Maritime provinces now open, Dr. Hatchette says it’s important people continue to make testing part of their routine.

"As variants continue to circulate around the world and the threat of variants being introduced into the province, the only way that we can really monitor for that is to test,” said Hatchette.

In an effort to keep COVID-19 under control in Nova Scotia, Public Health Mobile Units will be offering COVID testing in CBRM and HRM this weekend for all ages. Officials say testing people who show no symptoms is one of the main tools that has helped limit the spread in Nova Scotia.

The Public Health Mobile Units will be available for drop-in and pre-booked appointments at the following locations:

• Pensioners Club (445 Upper North St., Glace Bay)
• Saturday, July 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday, July 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Dartmouth North Public Library (105 Highfield Park Dr.) - Outdoors
• Saturday, July 3 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

• Ketch Harbour Community Hall (964 Ketch Harbour Rd.)
• Sunday, July 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.