Alberta expanded eligibility for second doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. Since then, more than 250,000 Albertans have booked their second shot.
On June 18, Premier Jason Kenney said anyone who received their first dose of vaccine during or before May could book their second dose through an Alberta Health Services clinic, participating pharmacy or physician’s office.
The health minister said Friday’s announcement made an additional 1.1 million Albertans eligible for their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
While Alberta’s percentage of partially vaccinated people is lower than the national average — standing currently at 70.6 per cent — it has the highest proportion of fully vaccinated eligible people at 28.6 per cent.
So far, Alberta has distributed 3,775,674 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Alberta Health confirmed 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday out of 4,878 tests. That put the provincial positivity rate at about 1.8 per cent.
In a tweet, Dr. Deena Hinshaw explained: “Over the last 24 hours we identified 100 new cases, of which 89 were new since yesterday. The remaining 11 cases were probable cases that occurred previously but have since been confirmed.”
There were 2,127 active cases across the province as of Sunday.
There were 214 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 53 of whom were in intensive care.
One additional fatality was reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours. A woman in her 80s with comorbidities died in the Calgary zone.
After hitting the 70 per cent partially vaccinated threshold on Thursday, Kenney announced Alberta will enter Stage 3 of its “Open For Summer” plan on July 1.
Anyone 12 years old and older is eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
Those who received an mRNA vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer) should wait four weeks between doses. Those who received Astrazeneca as their first dose should wait eight weeks between doses and can choose between Astrazeneca and an mRNA vaccine for their second dose.
On Saturday, Alberta Health reported its daily COVID-19 statistics, showing the number of active cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions continuing to decline.
There were 127 new COVID-19 cases confirmed and a total of 2,170 active cases across the province.
Alberta’s positivity rate was about 2.5 per cent.
There were 221 people in hospital with COVID-19, 49 of whom were in intensive care.
Six deaths were reported to Alberta Health.