Sask. lowers AstraZeneca age limit to 40+, announces priority vaccination changes

Amid vaccine shortages caused by delivery delays, Saskatchewan has announced that it plans to lower the vaccine eligibility age to 40 years or older by next week and begin immunizing priority frontline workers in May.

Premier Scott Moe announced on April 20 that the provincial government has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use on adults aged 40 years and older, allowing public health to open vaccine eligibility further while waiting for more PfizerBioNTech and Moderna doses.

On April 22, vaccine appointment eligibility was extended to residents aged 44 and older at any of the operating clinics in the province.

On April 28, the age will drop again to include residents aged 40 and older. Once this milestone is reached, the province will then shift focus to priority frontline workers over the age of 16. Included in this new priority group are police, firefighters, teachers and educational staff, correctional staff and border security officers.

These groups were previously the focus of mobile immunizations units, but will now be prioritized to book appointments with stationary community clinics. Healthcare workers within the Saskatchewan Health Authority who are in direct contact with patients are also included, as well as those working with private employers like dentists, optometrists and chiropractors. Saskatchewan pharmacists are also scheduled to begin delivering vaccines on April 26, making all employees working in a grocery store housing a pharmacy delivering vaccines eligible to be immunized. Eligible workers will be required to provide proof of employment to attend a mass immunization clinic, and group eligibility will be announced once vaccines open up to the public aged 40 and over. Public health recently closed several of the province’s drive-through clinics due to a shortage of vaccine supply, which are to remain closed indefinitely until more doses become available.

All clinics moving forward will be utilizing the available AstraZeneca vaccine, as weekly shipments are still arriving to supply the vaccine rollout.

Age 40 is a milestone for the vaccine plan, said Moe, as data shows that 84 per cent of the province’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and 96 per cent of death have been individuals over the age of 40.

For more information on the vaccine plan in Saskatchewan, visit saskatchewan.ca/ COVID-19.