Thousands of vaccination appointments to be rescheduled as Manitoba deals with delivery delays

Some 7,200 COVID-19 vaccination appointments across Manitoba are going to need to be rescheduled due to delays in shipments of the Moderna vaccine from the federal government, the province said Monday.

Health officials were expecting a shipment of 28,000 doses two weeks ago, which didn't arrive until Saturday, and now say a further 28,000 doses scheduled to arrive this week will be delayed as well.

It's not yet known when those will arrive.

Read more: Manitoba reaches 200K vaccine dose milestone

The province says thousands of appointments at pop-up sites originally booked for April 12 to 15 will need to be rescheduled as a result.

They are:

• Steinbach (April 12, 13, 14 and 15)
• Pine Falls (April 13)
• Stonewall (April 13)
• Flin Flon (April 13, 14 and 15)
• Virden (April 13)
• Russell (April 13)
• Gladstone (April 13)
• Pinawa (April 14)
• Eriksdale (April 14)
• Teulon (April 14)
• The Pas (April 14)
• Swan River (April 14)
• Killarney (April 14)
• Portage la Prairie (April 14 and 15)
• Arborg (April 15)
• St. Laurent (April 15)
• Beausejour (April 15)
• Dauphin (April 15)

Appointments at the following locations will be honoured, but no additional appointments are being booked:

• Glenboro (April 7)
• Matheson Island (April 8)
• Pine Dock (April 8)
• Faulkner (April 8)
• Whitemouth (April 8)
• Piney (April 9)

The province says people whose appointments will be affected can expect to be contacted by phone, email and text. They can then choose to book an appointment at a super site or wait for another pop-up to be rescheduled.

Read more: Manitoba health officials report 181 new COVID-19 cases over holiday Friday and Saturday

Eligibility

Vaccination eligibility criteria for super sites and pop-ups remain unchanged. It's is presently open to those aged 64 and up, and First Nations people aged 44 and older.

Supply and distribution

The province says 210,088 vaccine doses have been administered to date. That consists of 148,560 first doses and 61,528 second doses.

Manitoba has so far received 372,030 vaccine doses in total:

• 209,430 doses of Pfizer vaccine
• 90,000 doses of Moderna vaccine
• 72,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine

The province expects to receive a further 37,440 Pfizer vaccine doses and 11,500 AstraZeneca vaccine doses this week.

It says the maximum daily vaccination capacity is 20,918 doses per day.