Manitoba has passed the August long weekend vaccination targets set out in its economic reopening plan and new public health orders are expected to be announced next week, Premier Brian Pallister said in a July 7 news release.
More than 75 per cent of eligible residents in the province have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and more than 50 per cent have received both doses.
The wait for the new public health orders is because public health officials recommended having at least one incubation period (two weeks) elapse between health order changes.
“We are close to achieving all of our vaccination milestones earlier than we could have imagined,” said Pallister.
The reopening plan, announced June 10, says that if 75 per cent have first doses and 50 per cent both doses, capacity at businesses and other indoor places can be increased to 50 per cent or greater. The plan aimed to achieve those levels by the first weekend of August.
The third level of the plan is to have 80 per cent of Manitobans partially vaccinated and 75 per cent fully vaccinated by Labour Day. If that occurs, businesses and other facilities could operate with limited restrictions.
To reach those targets, about 33,000 more first doses and 100,000 second doses must be administered, in addition to the 180,000 vaccine appointments booked for the upcoming weeks.
All vaccination super sites in the province, including the one in Thompson, will offer walk-in vaccinations only on July 14. More than 20,000 doses of vaccine will be available through those super sites combined on that day, including about 8,000 Pfizer doses earmarked for people aged 12 to 17.
Manitoba has administered more than 129,000 vaccine doses per 100,000 residents and that 51.1 per cent of eligible people aged 12 and over are immunized. Those numbers lead the country on a per capita basis, according to the provincial government.
