Thompson vaccine ‘super site’ opens

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This article was published 02/02/2021 (2028 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The opening of northern Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccination “super site” was hailed Monday as a “sign of hope” and a “breath of fresh air” for the region reporting the most active coronavirus cases in the province.

“I think ‘hope’ is a really good word,” Helga Bryant, chief executive officer of Northern Health, said after visiting Thompson Regional Community Centre on opening day.

On Monday, Northern Health was home to 1,897 of Manitoba’s 3,466 active COVID-19 cases, compared to 762 in Winnipeg. Forty-two of Manitoba’s 89 new cases were in the North; Winnipeg reported 18.

“It does feel a bit like the beginning of the end — the light at the end of the tunnel,” Bryant said in a phone interview, after nurses began administering COVID-19 vaccine to eligible health-care workers in Thompson.

“I didn’t even feel it,” said Victor Kitzul, one of the first to get the shot at the newest super site. In a video tour of the site provided to media, Kitzul, 74 and a part-time cast technician at The Pas health complex, chatted with Bryant and Mayor Colleen Smook.

“There is an end in site,” Bryant told the Free Press, before quickly adding: “We can’t let our guard down.

“Until we get that herd immunity, we have to be very cautious.”

The plan is to administer 350 doses over the course of three, eight-hour days at the community centre.

The province initially planned to open its northern vaccination super site at the Thompson airport, dubbing it “Vaxport.” Following local concerns, however, about the small airport being a 10-kilometre, $25 cab ride from the city and not served by public transit, the province shifted to the community centre.

Bryant said Vaxport will eventually serve residents of fly-in communities, and such planning is still under way.

On Monday, the provided video tour showed a small fridge with a box of Moderna vaccine being stored at between 2 and 8 C, and three waiting health-care workers receiving a shot in the arm.

“It was all very orderly,” said Bryant. “People came in groups of three or so. There was no lineup, no crowding, and it was very, very COVID appropriate.”

Pop-up clinics to vaccinate Northern Health workers are set Feb. 10-11 for The Pas, and Feb. 11-12 for Flin Flon, Bryant said.

Much of the vaccine rollout depends on supply, which manufacturer’s vaccines are being shipped, and when they arrive, she said. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have recently delayed global vaccine shipments.

In the North, a shot in the arm was needed in more way than one, said the Thompson Chamber of Commerce president, buoyed by the activity at the community centre.

“The super site has been going steady all day, which is a good thing,” said Charlotte Larocque. “We need more vaccinations but, so far, so good.”

Also Monday, public health lifted the ban on the sale of non-essential items in the North, also providing some relief, she said.

“It’s a breath of fresh air for our small businesses,” Larocque said.

“Thompson’s population is just over 13,000, but our drawing area is 55,000. A lot of communities have to come in and get their supplies.” 

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca