Manitoba teachers can soon head to North Dakota to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Premier Brian Pallister says.
During a press conference Thursday Pallister said teachers and education workers are being added to the list of essential workers cleared to get their shots through a cross-border vaccination agreement set up between the province and its southern neighbour.
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“Although there’s a surplus of demand here, there’s no surplus of vaccines, so having the ability to have the partnership with North Dakota is very valuable,” said Pallister.
“We all understand that we have an education system that we have to protect.”
Pallister said details of the program expansion “are being developed as we speak” and didn’t say Thursday when teachers can begin making the trip down south to get their shots.
He said he expects to release more information early next week.
The initiative, announced last week, initially saw commercial truck drivers who regularly travel into the United States given the green light to get their shots at special vaccination sites set up along the highway on the United States side of the border.
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Pallister said the aim is to allow teachers to drive to the U.S. border, get a shot on the North Dakota side — where vaccines are plentiful — and immediately drive back home.
“The isolation requirements that are normally there for people when they return from the United States, will not apply,” he said.
He said one location will be on the highway from Winnipeg and another one will hopefully be set up on the highway south of Brandon.
The shots are being provided at no cost, having been paid for by the U.S. federal government, and will be available via appointments, the province said last week.
The Manitoba Teachers’ Society has called for its members to be prioritized for vaccines and for schools in Winnipeg to move to remote learning due to rising COVID-19 infections.
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Pallister says teachers over the age of 40 can already be vaccinated along with the general population, and teachers and other front-line workers over 18 in high-risk areas are being prioritized.
–With files from The Canadian Press
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