Nearly 1,000 Nunavummiut vaccinated against COVID-19
GN has received 12,000 doses of Moderna vaccine since first shipment arrived Dec. 30
Nunavut was to have received a total of 12,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine as of today, with another 6,000 doses due to arrive on Feb. 1. (File photo)
Ten days after its COVID-19 vaccination campaign started Jan. 6, the Nunavut Health Department had vaccinated just under 1,000 people, the territorial government’s latest online update states.
The latest numbers show that as of Jan. 15, 983 Nunavut residents had received their first shot.
Nunavut received 6,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine when it received its first shipment on Dec. 30.
When the vaccination campaign began, Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s chief public health officer, said the GN would start by administering only 3,000 of the 6,000 doses they started with.
That’s because the Moderna vaccine requires two shots to create full immunity against the coronavirus. The second shot should be given about 28 days after the first.
The GN has since received another 6,000 doses, which were split among Iqaluit on Jan. 14 and Rankin Inlet on Jan. 15.
And in the week of Feb. 1, the territory is expected to receive another 6,000, for a total of 18,000, almost half of the 37,500 Moderna doses the territory is expected to receive.
Nunavut’s plan is to inoculate three-quarters of the adult population by the end of March.
The first Nunavut residents to get their jabs were residents and staff at Iqaluit’s small long-term care home for elders.
After Jan. 11, the Health Department started vaccinating people outside Iqaluit, beginning with communities where extended care centres for elders are located, including Gjoa Haven, Igloolik, Cambridge Bay, and Arviat.
This Monday, the GN will add four more communities to that list: Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove, Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake.
Patterson said the Health Department is concentrating on the Kivalliq region right now because the Kivalliq relies more on southern medical travel than the territory’s other regions.
This means people in the Kivalliq region, which has recently emerged from outbreaks in Arviat, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet, are at greater risk of contracting the virus if they have to travel south for health care.
Information about where to go and who to call about getting a vaccination in each community is available at this GN web page.
Meanwhile, the GN will start vaccinating people in Iqaluit aged 65 and over, as well as shelter residents, between Jan. 18 and Jan. 22 at public health building 1091 and in the clinic side of the Qikiqtani hospital building.
Second-dose vaccinations for the Iqaluit elders home will start Feb. 3. Second-dose vaccinations will start Feb. 2 in Igloolik and Feb. 8 in Gjoa Haven.
According to the COVID-19 vaccination tracker at the University of Saskatchewan, 507,687 doses of approved vaccine had been administered across Canada. That’s equal to about 1.2 per cent of the country’s population.
As of the end of the day Friday, Nunavut was reporting zero active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 266 lab-confirmed infections.
Canada’s lab-confirmed COVID-19 case count stood at 695,707 as of Friday, with 17,729 deaths.
Vaccines first arrive December 28. It is nearly 3 weeks. math says they are vaccinating less than 60 people a day. Are the running these clinics with like two staff members? I don’t think this is acceptable. I also heard they have not even done front line staff at the hospital in Iqaluit but they are vaccinating shelter people first?
I also heard…..hearing saying! why even bother post this if you cannot verify its accuracy.
Health is providing vaccines based on its best judgement and during the past 9 month, they have done an excellent job. If you do not have the necessary background knowledge, sometimes it’s best to remain silent
I can confirm that no doctor or nurse at QGH has been vaccinated in terms of those working in er or inpatient ward. I expect public health ones have been vaccinated but cannot confirm as i do not work there and it’s a different building.
Do you have something to contribute to the comments section and the fact that this poster is pointing out that by the present numbers they will not vaccinate 75% of adults by March as indicated? You must work for public health pr with this useless comment. Hearsay can be true, nunatsiaq can ask at the next conference with the premier.
What’s the hold hold up? 12000 doses delivered but only 100 used. If this is an emergency then what going on.
We surely will hear of the repercussions to any unnecessary travel that occurred by “Senior Officials”.