By Chris Brown

Vaccine is safe, premier reassures

Kenney says Albertans flocking to COVID vaccines as more become eligible

Apr 20, 2021 | 8:16 PM

Premier Jason Kenney says more than 5,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in Alberta in the past 24 hours and nearly 70,000 appointments are booked for the next 10 days.

Kenney says that’s more uptake in one day than in all of last week and that he is booked for an appointment on Thursday.

“As much as we’d like to believe that the jab gives us a superpower, please remember that it takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to work its magic,” he said Tuesday, “and then we still have to get the second dose when it’s available to get the full protective effect.”

Kenney cautioned that the first dose is “not a license by any means to ignore or go lax on public health guidelines.”

A walk-in vaccination clinic is now open in Red Deer at Exhibition Hall at Westerner Park.

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Kenney encourages anyone eligible to get the AstraZeneca vaccine he says has been shown to reduce infection by 60 to 70 per cent and severe outcomes like hospitalization by 80 per cent.

He also says it’s safe, and the risk of adverse reactions is minuscule compared to the risk of COVID-19.

“Anyone infected with COVID-19 is much more likely to experience blood clots from COVID than they are from the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he says.

He said about one in four people are hospitalized with COVID get blood clots versus fewer than five cases that he knows of from about 700,000 people who got the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Kenney says vaccinations combined with following health measures will allow the province to get back to normal so we can enjoy “a great Alberta summer.”

Kenney urged against non-essential travel and says officials will continue to watch the numbers to see the result of restrictions such as the closure of indoor dining on April 6.

He says they are watching for potential increases from Easter.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who got her first AstraZeneca vaccine dose today, echoed Kenney’s urging that people get vaccinated when they can.

She says the U.K. variant, the B.1.1.7 strain is now the dominant strain in Alberta, which means transmission can happen much easier and can happen faster than ever before.

The chief medical officer of health also says they are seeing growth of P.1 Brazilian variant cases with community transmission in many parts of the province.

With the number of first doses ramping up, Hinshaw said thoughts have turned to second doses.

“Once we finish offering first doses to all Albertans 16 and over, we will start second doses as soon as our supply allows,” says Hinshaw. “This will likely be in later June, based on our current supply estimates.”

(CHAT News Today)

(CHAT News Today)