Manitoba says it’s prepared to deliver 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine between April and July, although that depends on vaccine supply.
At a technical briefing Wednesday, provincial officials said the province’s second-quarter vaccine plan — which includes new supersites in the Interlake-Eastern and Southern Health regions — is expected to be ready by March.
Expanded capacity in Winnipeg is also planned, with a second site in the city able to be opened on short notice.
The province said 70 per cent of the vaccines handed out in the second quarter will be from 13 supersites across Manitoba, with distribution channels, pop-ups and focused immunization teams taking on the rest.
Pharmacists and doctors will deliver around a quarter of the daily doses, with the last five per cent being handled by pop-ups.
Although it’s dependent on vaccine availability, the province said it expects to be able to administer 20,000 doses a day by early April.
Johanu Botha, co-lead of the province’s vaccine implementation task force, said it’s going to be a very involved process.
“A key question for us and I think for the public will be where are we right now? What measure is our current capacity? How prepared are we?
“Moving forward, we will begin reporting on our daily maximum capacity. This is separate from the vaccine supply.
“We know the vaccine supply is volatile, but assuming that it’s coming in, what do we have ready to be able to pump through our system?”