Medical association calls for Sask. essential workers to be immediately vaccinated

Change the provincial COVID-19 plan and get essential workers vaccinated against COVID-19 now: That’s the plea from the president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association.

Dr. Barb Konstantynowicz says she’s “gravely concerned” that the provincial government has so far refused to adapt its plans to get doctors and health-care workers who haven’t yet had their vaccines prioritized, along with teachers, grocery store workers and others who are considered essential.

She says that puts not only the public at greater risk, but also friends and families, and adds the government’s current position doesn’t account for the acceleration of the variants of concern.

“COVID-19 is mutating into variants of concern that threaten to overwhelm Saskatchewan’s health system,” said Konstantynowicz. “The virus is adapting. We ask the government to show flexibility and adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances of the pandemic.”

The province released a statement Premier Scott Moe made Tuesday in which he addressed changing the current system.

“That will do nothing but slow down our any (sic) plan including ours in Saskatchewan,” Moe said. “But in saying that, we understand the need to address some of those frontline workers. We will not sacrifice the capacity of our plan. We are going to have a needle offered to everyone in this province by sometime in early June if we continue to receive vaccines from the federal government.

“We are looking at are there some larger worksites with frontline workers for example where 400 to 500 to 600 people show up in a day and do have some interaction. Maybe we have some mobile capacity to address some of theses folks.”

There is no concrete plan so far on which work sites may be included, how, or when that may occur.

Konstantynowicz says she believes Saskatchewan has one of the most effective and nimble vaccine distribution processes in the country and it should be ready and able to adapt to change as needed.