According to statistics provided to The Reminder by the Northern Health Region (NHR) this week, more than half of all eligible people in the Flin Flon and The Pas health districts have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
The statistics provided May 10 included vaccination data for three of northern Manitoba’s biggest communities, along with the district within the NHR with the highest total rate of vaccination - that district is the Norway House district, where more than 77 per cent of eligible people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
In the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district, 57.8 per cent of people eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine - currently open to all people who live and work in northern Manitoba age 18 and over - have gotten at least one dose.
In Flin Flon, doses have been provided at a series of pop-up clinics at the Flin Flon Community Hall and at personal care homes and seniors’ residences (which have offered Moderna vaccine doses) and at Flin Flon Pharmasave (which has provided doses of AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine doses).
In The Pas/OCN/Kelsey, a total of 53.6 per cent of eligible people in the district have received at least one dose of COVID-19. Out of the major centres in northern Manitoba, the Thompson/Mystery Lake district has the lowest vaccination rate, with only 45.8 per cent of eligible people having had at least one dose despite the area being home to northern Manitoba’s only vaccination “super-site”.
The Flin Flon district having the highest vaccination rate runs counter to its rate of COVID-19 infections - as of May 10, 161 people in the district have tested positive for COVID-19, while 547 people have tested positive in The Pas/OCN/Kelsey and 974 people have tested positive in Thompson/Mystery Lake. However, Flin Flon (as of May 10) has more active COVID-19 cases than the other two districts - 10 in the Flin Flon district, seven in The Pas district and three in the Thompson district.
All four of the communities where data was released are higher than the average vaccination rate for both northern Manitoba and for Manitoba as a whole. As of May 10, 29,959 people throughout the NHR (about 40 per cent of the total population) have received at least one vaccine dose, while 565,219 people (just over 44 per cent of all northerners) have had at least one dose.
Walk-in clinics for COVID-19 vaccine first doses are being held in Flin Flon May 14, 20 and 21 for all eligible people - no appointment necessary.
