HALIFAX -- A physician, a paramedic, a nurse, and a nursing home resident are among the first in New Brunswick to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

A clinic opened Saturday after the province received its first 1,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier in the week.

The very fist in line: 84-year-old Pauline Gauvin of Miramichi. She’s a resident at Shannex’s Losier Hall.

"This is something I won’t forget," she said, after receiving the shot at the Miramichi Regional Hospital Saturday morning.

Some others at the front of the line for the vaccine:

  • Nicolette Noel, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit of the Miramichi Regional Hospital.  She is the first nurse in New Brunswick to get the vaccine.
  • Dr. Carl Boucher of Caraquet, N.B. He is a family doctor and emergency room physician at l’Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus RHSJ. Dr. Boucher is the first doctor in New Brunswick to be vaccinated.
  • Joel LeFort of Moncton is the first paramedic in the province to be vaccinated.
  • Mandy Whalen of Dieppe is the first extra-mural program nurse in the province to get the vaccine.

"Today marks a significant step forward for our province, but it is only the first step," said Premier Blaine Higgs in a Saturday media release. "We have every reason to feel hopeful, but the vaccine roll-out is just beginning and the pandemic is not over."

New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Jennifer Russell says she urges New Brunswickers to be patient as members of priority group members get the vaccine in the coming weeks, and asks everyone to continue following health guidelines.