LETHBRIDGE, AB – A local Registered Nurse was the first in Lethbridge and the first health care worker in AHS South Zone to receive a vaccine for COVID-19.

Carla Haney is an RN who works in the Intensive Care Unit at Chinook Regional Hospital. She was given her first of two doses on the Pfizer vaccine just before Christmas.

“My advice to others is to just think really hard about the importance of getting the vaccine, for us all to be able to protect those we love and those we look after,” Lethbridge RN Carla Haney

She says she feels lucky to be included in the first round of coronavirus vaccinations.

“The vaccine provides some hope for the situation to start to change, and that we will be able to protect our loved ones and our colleagues,” says Haney. “I’m amazed at the level of collaboration that’s taken place worldwide to make this happen, and that we live in a time where we have the technology to be able to do this on this global scale. It’s remarkable.”

Haney will receive her final dose of vaccine on January 20th.

The Alberta government has earmarked the initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine for frontline health care workers and those working in long-term care facilities.

Meanwhile, the first doses of the newly approved Moderna vaccine were given out across the region on Wednesday (Dec. 30). A total of 16,900 doses arrived in the province this week.

A woman at a long-term care centre in Medicine Hat was the first in person in Alberta to receive the shot.

The Moderna vaccine is being given to those folks living in long-term care and designated supportive living facilities.

Unlike the Pfizer shot which has been to stored at extremely cold temperatures, the Moderna vaccine does not and is much easier to transport.