LETHBRIDGE, AB – A handful of front line health workers are set to be the first in Alberta to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced Wednesday the first 3900 doses will be administered in one week, on Dec. 16, to ICU doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and long-term care workers.
The first acute care staff to receive the vaccines will be from Foothills and Lougheed hospitals in Calgary, and the U of A and Royal Alexandra hospitals in Edmonton.
Shandro says a second shipment of vaccines is expected to arrive in Alberta later this month.
The province reported 1460 new cases of COVID-19 over the past day out of 16,800 tests for a provincial positivity rate of 8.7 per cent.
There were also 13 deaths since Tuesday’s update.
City of Lethbridge COVID-19 Cases (end of day Dec. 8, 2020)
A total of 12 new cases: 1,187 overall cases – 247 active, 933 recovered, 7 deaths
- West Side (455 cases total: 85 active, 368 recovered, 2 deaths)
- South Side (373 cases total: 61 active, 309 recovered, 3 deaths)
- North Side (359 cases total: 101 active, 256 recovered, 2 deaths)