HALIFAX: As the number of daily new cases remains in the single digits across the province, plans are in the works to offer more COVID-19 vaccines to as many as possible.
On March 12, two new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Eastern Zone, which the province said are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and those who tested positive are self-isolating. This was the same scenario on March 23 when another case was confirmed in the Eastern Zone.
On March 15, 67 residents at Richmond Villa were given their injections of Moderna vaccine and their designated caregivers were vaccinated on March 23.
“Everything went great, we had 100 per cent compliance,” Richmond Villa chief executive officer Carson Samson said. “Every resident that was here got inoculated. It was a great uptake. I hope the community does the same.”
Samson said staff was already given the option of attending health-care worker clinics offsite to get vaccinated. He said they will be receiving their second dose in June, around the same time as residents.
“We’re going to get the Moderna vaccine, it will be shipped on site,” Samson noted. “We’ll hold it in our freezers and we already have our staff trained and ready to go. We just have to logistically organize the clinic, which is not that difficult.”
Samson said the villa has been weathering the pandemic like other long-term care facilities in Nova Scotia, and he said he’s proud of how staff has pulled together.
Samson said a staff shortage has made the global pandemic extra trying. He said it’s been hard finding even long-term care assistants with no background who can be trained internally.
“We’re having a difficult time recruiting and stuff like that. Not a lot of people are running to long-term care at the moment, related to COVID and all that stuff. It’s becoming more and more difficult to recruit people,” Samson told The Reporter. “We’ve been running our own (Continuing Care Assistant) program here internally for the last five years and it’s the only way we’re getting CCAs. We’re down one RN now and we’ve been recruiting for almost a year. We haven’t been able to get one.”
On March 16, the Port Hawkesbury Shoppers Drug Mart outlet became the first in Canada to administer COVID-19 vaccinations. Pictured here getting his shot is Kevin Corbett.
On March 15, the Shoppers Drug Mart outlet in Port Hawkesbury administered its first COVID-19 vaccinations.
Vaccines will be available at 15 Loblaw-owned pharmacies in Nova Scotia in the coming weeks. For information about which stores are participating, as well as eligibility and how to book a vaccine appointment, visit www.shoppersdrugmart.ca.
“We continue to see a high demand at our Port Hawkesbury Shoppers Drug Mart location, which vaccinated more than 100 patients yesterday and will do so again today,” Loblaw public relations told The Reporter last week. “Additional locations participating in the program will be released by (the Nova Scotia) government as they join, but we expect all locations to be participating over the coming month or so.”
Richmond Villa resident David Burke receives his COVID-19 vaccination on March 15 in St. Peter’s.
Anyone 80 and older and born between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 can start to book their COVID-19 vaccine, the province noted.
In addition to the community clinic appointments, 2,600 appointments opened for booking at 15 more pharmacies, the province said, noting these pharmacies will be for anyone who is 80 and older and will offer the Moderna vaccine.
The pharmacies include Drugstore Pharmacy at 26 Market St. in Antigonish, Lawtons at 133 Church St. in Antigonish and the Medicine Shoppe, which can be found at 708 Reeves St., Unit B in Port Hawkesbury.
COVID-19 vaccination appointments must be made online at https://www.novascotia.ca/vaccination or by phone at 1-833-797-7772. Appointments cannot be booked directly through a community clinic, pharmacy or physician and walk-ins will be turned away, the province said.