COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in high demand in Manitoba
CTV
Demand for a booster dose of vaccine to help protect people against COVID-19 and the new Omicron variant of concern has some Manitobans scrambling to find appointments and walk-in clinics with shots in stock.
Demand for a booster dose of vaccine to help protect people against COVID-19 and the new Omicron variant of concern has some Manitobans scrambling to find appointments and walk-in clinics with shots in stock.
Dozens of people lined up outside the Shoppers Drug Mart in Osborne Village Thursday morning in hopes of getting a walk-in appointment.
“A friend told me about Shoppers (Drug Mart) so I called and couldn’t get through the first time, and then called back and they said they had a shortage,” said Suzanne Querel. “My girlfriend’s husband called again and they said today would be a good day.”
The good news for Querel, the pharmacy did indeed have doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which she wanted, in stock. The bad news, the lineup just to get inside the clinic wrapped around the pharmacy with the temperature sitting at around -15 degrees Celsius.
“Didn’t realize we’d have to stand in line for an hour and a half,” Querel laughed. “We weren’t expecting to have these sub-zero temperatures considering how warm it was yesterday.”
Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead of Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force, said the province has hundreds of pharmacy and physician partners giving the shots. She said work is underway to get more vaccine doses into both doctors’ offices and pharmacies.
“So there’s certainly going to be some variability as to the hours that they have available and whether or not they have doses available at any given time,” said Reimer. “If they don’t have enough stock, we can send them more stock.”
