Teams to start vaccinating entire First Nations communities in mid-March

Immunization teamswill visitManitoba First Nationsto vaccinate entire communities at once, with those at most risk of flooding andfires or losing winter road access prioritized.

This will be done so communitiesthat could be affected by spring or summer emergencies do not have such issues compounded by a potential COVID-19 outbreak,health officials said Friday morning.

Communities at risk oflosing winter road access or where access is across a waterway will be also be prioritized.

"We know First Nations people in Manitoba are more at risk of COVID-19 and at younger ages. In addition, many of these communities may face evacuation due to fires and floods or have geographical issues that make it hard to get there," said Dr. Marcia Anderson,public health lead of the Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordination Team.

"It's important to get needles into arms as soon as possible and detailed planning is now underway to schedule vaccinations in these communities."

Dr. Marcia Anderson says immunization teams will start visiting Manitoba First Nations right away

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Dr. Marcia Anderson, lead for the Manitoba First Nations pandemic response team, said Friday COVID-19 immunization teams are aiming to offer first doses to all eligible adults in First Nations by mid-May, starting with communities at most risk of flooding, fires or losing winter road access.

Manitoba hopes to have all eligibleadults in First Nations communities receive their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines by mid-May, officials said Friday morning. These vaccinations will get underway in mid-March.

The next communities to receive widespread immunizations will be those that have experienced significant outbreaks and high fatality rates due to COVID-19, anews release said.

In total, clinics will be set up at 63 First Nations communities, six northern rural municipalities and 47 Northern Affairs communities.Northern Affairs communities are adjacent to First Nations andinclude Mtis, First Nations and non-Indigenous people, Anderson explained.

Right now, the plan is to use the Moderna vaccine for all of these sites.

Each community will be contacted directly aboutwhen they will receive their vaccine shipments. Some will be able to start immunizing people using their own teams, Andersonsaid.

More details on how the rollout will work should be released next week, she said. Communities in both northern and southern Manitoba will be included in the initialvaccine shipments.

"We want to ensure that oursouthern First Nation communities are hearing the message that they don't need to wait for the entire north to be done before they get access to vaccine," she said.

As of Friday, more than 9,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been given to First Nations people in Manitoba, Anderson said.

"We have had anecdotal reports that uptake has been very good among the elders and community who have been eligible to date, and we look forward to working collaboratively with our partners to continue to produce and refine data on the vaccination uptake in coverage," she said.