Personal care home vaccines to begin Jan. 11

To protect vulnerable Manitobans who are at greatest risk from COVID-19, Manitoba will launch a 28-day campaign to immunize all eligible personal care home (PCH) residents in 135 sites across the province with the first dose of the vaccine, Premier Brian Pallister announced today.    

“This is the next crucial phase in our plan to protect Manitobans from COVID-19,” said Pallister. “We have built a plan to immunize some of our most vulnerable people as quickly as possible, now that we can bring the vaccine to them safely. By early March, every eligible resident will have received both doses and the fullest protection we can provide against this virus.”  

The PCH immunization campaign will begin on Monday, Jan. 11. Over the week, focused immunization teams (FITs) will visit seven locations in every regional health authority across the province.

They will immunize an estimated 1,157 people at:
• Boyne Lodge, Carman, Southern Health–Santé Sud; 
• Charleswood Care Centre, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority;
• Hillcrest Place, Brandon, Prairie Mountain Health; 
• Oakview Place, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority;
• St. Paul’s Residence, The Pas, Northern Health Region;
• Tudor House, Selkirk, Interlake Eastern Regional Health Authority; and
• Tuxedo Villa, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. 

As announced in December, the prioritization of PCHs uses an evidence-based approach to measure the vulnerability of the site, based on the number of residents as well as the percentage of shared rooms. Within each regional health authority, the local FIT will prioritize facilities for immunization based on these criteria. The FITs will follow all protocols for personal protective equipment while on-site.

The province has developed a week-by-week plan to immunize an estimated 9,834 people living in PCHs across the province. They will receive their first dose of vaccine within 28 days of the campaign launch, as long as the vaccine continues to be delivered to Manitoba by the federal government as expected. The schedule will then be immediately repeated to provide the second dose to all PCH residents. Immunizations are expected to use the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.  

Next week, the immunization schedule for all remaining PCHs will be released. It will reflect any lessons learned from the first week of immunizations and significantly expand the number of immunizations scheduled on a weekly basis. 

All eligible residents and personal care homes will be included in the campaign if they consent to be immunized. The vaccine will be offered at all sites, regardless of whether the PCH has had an outbreak, is having an outbreak or has never had an outbreak of COVID-19. Individuals in personal care homes will be offered the vaccine even if they have previously tested positive for COVID-19, as long as they do not have any other medical conditions that would exclude them from immunization.

  The province has been working with the long-term care sector to prepare for the campaign since the middle of December. When required, this includes seeking consent from alternate decision makers for immunization. Individuals working at these facilities will continue to be immunized at the RBC Convention Centre super site with the Pfizer vaccine, to preserve the more limited supply of Moderna.   

For more information about the immunization campaign in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/vaccine.

(Province of MB News Release)