After initially being announced on April 12, 2021, that various local pharmacies would be assisting with the widespread rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, further information late last week listed 14 communities that would be involved in the initial pilot project set to begin tomorrow.

63 pharmacies in those 14 communities would begin taking appointments (separately from the Saskatchewan Health Authority's existing booking system) with additional communities added as larger volumes of vaccines became available.

No communities in the southwest were represented in the initial rollout, and Swift Current Online reached out to representatives from the Saskatchewan Health Authority to ask why.

Districts represented include south-central, southeast, and central east areas, with no representation from western or northern zones.

Representatives from the SHA were not available to be interviewed but did provide an email statement saying that there are plans to have some southwest communities involved in the second pilot that is beginning next week, though no details of which communities were provided.

As for an explanation of how the communities were selected to participate in the Pfizer Pharmacy vaccine pilot, they listed a number of factors including:

  • A limited number of doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
  • Shipping/distribution logistics of the Pfizer vaccine. (i.e. needed to ship to pharmacies within a certain distance of the wholesaler based in Regina)
  • The pharmacy's capacity to administer the doses sent to them within a short period of time (5 days) due to the vaccine needing to be shipped in the thawing state (provided by each pharmacy); and
  • The SHA Clinic presence in the community.

The email statement went on to add that additional pharmacies located in different communities would be added through the second pilot, and that the timing of the second pilot would be confirmed based on the arrival of a shipment of the Moderna vaccine.