EDMONTON -- Alberta's chief medical officer of health revealed who is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the next phase of vaccinations as Phase 2A began on Monday.
With Phase 2B slated to begin in April, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Albertans with high-risk underlying health conditions would be able to get the COVID-19 shot.
The full list on the Alberta COVID-19 website includes:
- Chronic heart, kidney, liver, neurological and respiratory diseases;
- A cancer diagnosis or treatment in the past year;
- Diabetes that requires insulin or other medicines;
- Immunosuppression;
- Pregnancy;
- Severe mental illness or substance abuse disorder that required hospitalization in the past year;
- Severe obesity;
- Severe learning disabilities or severe developmental delay; and
- Solid organ, bone marrow or stem cell transplant recipients.
"The health conditions that we are prioritizing were carefully considered from our experience in Alberta and evidence around the world," Hinshaw said. "All of these conditions are associated with a higher risk of death or hospitalization even in younger age groups when comparing their risks to those for people ages 50-64 with no underlying conditions."
Phase 2C, scheduled to start in late April, includes in part all health care workers who give in-person care, such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists and dentists.
In total, just over one million Albertans are eligible to receive the vaccine in phase 2B and 2C.
More than 8,000 Albertans eligible to receive the vaccine in Phase 2A had booked their appointment on Monday morning.
Alberta Health Services had administered just over 368,000 doses as of Sunday.
MONDAY COVID-19 NUMBERS
Dr. Hinshaw also reported 364 COVID-19 cases, including 65 variant infections, a positivity rate of 5.5 per cent, and three more deaths.
Alberta has 4,811 active cases and 255 people in hospital, including 42 in ICU.
The province has reported 138,788 cases and 1,949 deaths since last March.
