Vaccine vacancy: thousands of Pfizer and Moderna shots are waiting to be administered to residents in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

SYDNEY, N.S. -

Cape Breton University has been a busy spot for COVID-19 vaccinations, but lately appointments have been easier to come by.

"It seemed like for quite some time they were booked up, booked up, booked up and then all of a sudden appointments became available. It flowed through very easily after that," says Kim Davis, a vaccine recipient.

Davis says she booked her appointment five days ago, and received her second shot today.

She says she was surprised there were no lineups.

"They have the vaccination clinic in the skating arena part, so there was loads of space and they could've accommodated more people from what I could see," says Davis.

The head of the vaccine rollout in Nova Scotia agrees and says they're starting to see significant vacancy across the province.

"In fact we have about 50,000 vacant appointments available in the next two weeks for both Pfizer and Moderna, so lots of room for people to get in there and move their second dose appointment forward," says Tracey Barbrick, the associate deputy minister for the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.

In New Brunswick, thousands of first and second dose Pfizer and Moderna appointments have been opened for vaccinations through regional health authority clinics and participating pharmacies.

59.7 per cent of New Brunswickers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

Nova Scotia is hoping to hit their two-dose mark by the middle of August, if people move their appointments forward.

"It looks like there are about 85,000 people that have their appointments booked from the second week of August into October and we want to pull all of those people forward as quickly as we can," says Barbrick.

She says reminders will be sent out in the coming days for people to reschedule to speed up the process of getting back to life before the pandemic.