A Saskatchewan First Nation is celebrating an important milestone in the fight against COVID-19.
Standing Buffalo Chief Roberta Soo-Oyewaste told Global News 85 per cent of the eligible population is vaccinated.
Additionally, those aged 69 to 91 living on the reserve located 75 kilometres northeast of Regina are all vaccinated.
She credits communication and support from the COVID-19 task force for the high uptake.
“Communication is our number one priority,” she said.
The Standing Buffalo COVID-19 task force team is made up of eight members, including Soo-Oyewaste.
The team has access to a housing list which tells them who lives in each house on the reserve.
Then, they picked up their phones and started reaching out to the households to figure out which members were over 12 and older.
Soo-Oyewaste said the process started in January. She added the team has a good relationship with All Nations Healing Hospital and the nursing staff there.
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“We all work in combination together,” Soo-Oyewaste said.
Community members were given an information package on the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
A town hall was also held over Zoom where Indigenous Services of Canada Medical Health Officer Dr. Ibrahim Khan and others presented.
Residents were able to call or text if they had any questions about the vaccine.
“The information on the vaccine is really important (and) that one-to-one person communication is important, and that was the success of our COVID-19 vaccine team and how we got that high rate,” Soo-Oyewaste said.
“We ensured all of our front-line workers were vaccinated, which included our teachers, our (educational assistants) and our health staff, our band staff, and most importantly, our Lakeview Lodge staff and residents received the vaccine.”
The vaccination effort didn’t come without its challenges, though. Soo-Oyewaste said the team did have to curb some vaccine hesitancy.
“We just kept calling them, just that communication and having those doors open, maybe they’ll change their mind (and) in case they change their mind,” Soo-Oyewaste said.
Soo-Oyewaste is also proud of the residents aged 12 to 15 for taking the initiative to get vaccinated once it was their turn to roll up their sleeves.
“They were all coming in with their consent forms by themselves. They were waiting 10 minutes, because when you get the vaccine, it has to unfreeze, so there’s a 15-minute wait. And they were waiting, lined up at the door.”
“Considering all the social media and everything that’s negatively against vaccine, they just did a good job. And I think we did a good job of educating people,” Soo-Oyewaste added.
Soo-Oyewaste said education, awareness and communication are all important when trying to increase vaccination rates.
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