A bus that has been converted into a mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic and is now travelling across Alberta to get more people immunized will make a stop in the mountain town of Jasper on Tuesday.
Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland issued a statement last week urging area residents to take advantage of the service.
READ MORE: COVID-19: Alberta’s 1st mobile vaccination clinic rolls into Kananaskis Country
“COVID-19 cases are on the rise in our community,” he said, noting that of Jasper residents 12 and older who are vaccine eligible, 67 per cent were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, but only 55 per cent of people 20 to 39 had two doses.
“(That age group is) the core of our service industry workforce,” he said.
“We can, and we must, do better.”
Ireland’s plea for more people to get their jabs comes as Alberta has seen its COVID-19 numbers rise in recent days. Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam recently said that the Public Health Agency of Canada’s long-range epidemic forecasts suggest “we are the start of a Delta-driven fourth wave.”
READ MORE: Canada’s Delta-driven 4th wave of COVID-19 will be ‘different’ amid vaccinations: experts
On Canada Day, Alberta lifted almost all of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions, including the requirement that people wear masks in indoor public places.
The province’s chief medical officer of health has also announced that later this month, the province will no longer require people with COVID-19 to self-isolate and Alberta will scale back testing as the province moves from a pandemic response to an endemic response. Those decisions have drawn criticism from some doctors and health experts and prompted large protests in Alberta’s two largest cities this weekend.
READ MORE: ‘This is a travesty’: Albertans protest COVID-19 rule rollback for second day
“Research and statistics confirm that those who are not vaccinated are contracting and spreading COVID-19,” Ireland said in his statement on Thursday. “As I have said repeatedly over the last 17 months, we are a small community where spread of the virus can occur rapidly; we have a small hospital where our small, dedicated staff of health-care professionals can be quickly overwhelmed.”
Ireland added that he understands it is not always easy for everyone to arrange to get their vaccine shot, especially for out-of-province workers or for those without Alberta Health cards.
“Those challenges, and other, more practical challenges, such as scheduling, are addressed by this mobile vaccination clinic,” he said.
READ MORE: Alberta launches mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinic for worksites and rural communities
The mobile vaccination clinic will be in Jasper in the parking lot across from the Crimson Hotel on Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It is intended for anyone who wishes to receive a vaccine dose, even if they do not have a valid Alberta Health card. No appointment is necessary.
Watch below: (From July 26, 2021) Alberta’s first mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic made its first stop in Kananaskis Country on Monday. Carolyn Kury de Castillo reports.
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