The province is looking at the potential of having a third COVID-19 vaccination available if needed.

Health Minister Paul Merriman says they are looking into the possibility of a third shot for anyone who received AstraZeneca.

“We are in discussions with Dr. Shahab on this to see what his thoughts are on it, right now it’s not imminent this has to be done immediately, but it’s something that we could look at,” Merriman said. “If we decide to go down this path, there could be potentially another 40-50,000 people that have received AstraZeneca that might want to get a shot of Moderna or Pfizer.”

Merriman states the province is still getting around 1000 first shots a day, as well as getting second doses completed.

This comes as the Saskatchewan Health Authority is refocusing employees after the whole organization was reorganized for contact tracing, testing and vaccinations.

“We are going to be transitioning into our pharmacies — and we had been doing that — we’re going to see that increase over the next little while,” Merriman said. “We still have our facilities operating, but we will look at starting to wind those down over the next few weeks.”

Merriman says if there is a fourth wave. people who are not vaccinated will face the biggest challenges in the next wave.

“If you want to avoid any extreme outcomes or extreme health outcomes, you need to go in and get your shot.”

He says there could be the potential for children ages five to eleven to get vaccinated soon. It’s a federal decision Merriman expects to come in the next few weeks.

{Files from CJWW}