Vaccination rates fall off in Nova Scotia amid summer vacation season
The summer vacation season seems to have created a slowdown in vaccination bookings, at least in Nova Scotia.
A pharmacy owner in Baddeck says appointments at his vaccination clinic have slowed down to a trickle, but health officials are still confident the province will reach its immunization goals by September.
"People have definitely cancelled more appointments now. In the summertime, it can be tough”, says Graham MacKenzie, a Baddeck pharmacy owner whose store is currently a vaccination clinic.
MacKenzie says for a while, he was seeing anywhere from 60 to 200 appointments a day, but bookings have dropped off in the past week and a half.
"Days that could hold appointments of 120 or more, we might get anywhere from six to twelve appointments”, MacKenzie says.
Tracey Barbrick is head of Nova Scotia's vaccine rollout. She says there are about 100,000 vacant appointments province-wide in the next two weeks.
"The most opportunity within the system is now. There's tonnes of vacant appointments”, Barbrick says.
“What we would like to see is a lot of those second dose people who are eligible, move their appointments up. We'd love to see them do that because we'd love to hit 75 per cent fully vaccinated before September."
Barbrick adds that at 63 per cent,Nova Scotia is leading the country in double-vaccinated residents. Meanwhile, more than 75 per cent have received the first dose.
She said the percentage of people who have been vaccinated is generally consistent across different provincial regions.
"So our first doses are 76 per cent, our second doses are 63 per cent, and about two per cent a day increase in second doses based on appointments”, Barbrick says.
Back in Baddeck, Graham MacKenzie says next week he has a good number of Pfizer appointments that are booked, though there are still plenty of openings.
He predicts the slowdown in bookings in his area will end soon.
"With the 15th of August and onward, most appointments are going to be reschedules. So I think we're going to see a change in this pattern”, MacKenzie says.
On Friday, the Nova Scotia Health Authority announced it is adding three new outreach vaccination clinics next week in communities North of Smokey. They say it's to offer a bit more accessibility to the vaccine.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
A fight to protect the dignity of Michelangelo's David raises questions about freedom of expression
Michelangelo's David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue's religious and political significance is being diminished.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.