Albertans under the age of 65 are flocking to book their COVID-19 vaccines on the first day the sign ups opened for the age cohort.
On Wednesday, Albertans born in 1957 and all First Nations, Metis and Inuit people who were born in 1972 were able to book to receive the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.
By 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, some 11,500 people had already made appointments for the shot with 1,800 booking through 811.The province has 58,500 doses of the vaccine to give out with more coming in the next weeks.
Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province has given out 309,000 doses of vaccine in the province, with more than 91,000 Albertans fully immunized with two doses.
So far close to 138,000 Albertans over the age of 75, not residing in continuing care of designated supportive living, have been vaccinated or have appointments to be vaccinated.
“This is great news and will go a long way in protecting those who are most vulnerable to severe outcomes from this virus,” Hinshaw said.
Alberta’s top doctor said the province anticipates 811 call volumes will remain high in the coming days and recommends Albertans book online. Hinshaw said Albertans can try book during off peak hours to avoid the rush.
“I would like to acknowledge that rolling out all COVID-19 vaccines has been a mammoth logistical undertaking,” Hinshaw said.
"If people are patient and wait until less peak times, the system will work better and more people will have an improved experience. Remember — there is enough vaccine for these two eligible groups to be immunized."
The top doctor urged Albertans to get the vaccine when it is their turn, and encourage family, friends and neighbours to also get the shot.
"The more people who become immunized, the less the virus will be able to mutate and the less it will impact our communities."
Those who are vaccinated must still follow the public health guidelines in place in the province.
On Wednesday the province reported another 399 new cases of COVID-19 after 10,400 tests were run for a positivity rate of 3.7 per cent.
There were 47 new cases of variant of concern in the province, totalling 734 that have been diagnosed since they were first identified in a returning traveller on Dec. 15.
Hinshaw said so far the province has been able to slow the growth of the variant.
In late January around three per cent of all active cases were made of a variant of concern, which has grown to nine per cent of active cases today.
“Having said that, in other jurisdictions, they have seen a much more rapid growth of variants of concern as a proportion of all COVID cases,” Hinshaw said.
“This means that our health measures, both the overall restrictions as well as the targeted measures for variant cases, are working to slow the growth and if we continue to work together, we can continue to limit the spread.”
Right now in schools there are active alerts or outbreaks in 259 schools, or 11 per cent of all schools. Since Jan. 11, 1,117 cases have been diagnosed in school aged children.
There are 254 people in the hospital with COVID-19 and 37 of them are in intensive care. There were two deaths reported to Alberta Health Wednesday.
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