Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs, Paul Wynnyk will be leading Alberta’s COVID-19 Vaccine task force.
Premier Jason Kenney making that announcement during Wednesday’s update.
He says the province is also well prepared to receive, distribute and administer a vaccine as soon as they arrive.
Phase One will focus on at-risk populations including residents and staff of continuing care homes, on-reserve First Nations, and health care workers.
The plan is to be able to offer the vaccine to all Albertans by summertime.
Kenney says the government won’t make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory but will be encouraging as many people as possible to get the shot when it’s their turn.
Another 1,685 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past day out of 18,432 tests which means a provincial positivity rate of 9.2 percent.
There are now 17,144 active cases across the province with 505 people in hospital, 97 of them in the ICU.
Ten people have died since Tuesday’s update.
In the Lakeland, the MD of Bonnyville has 28 active cases, the City of Cold Lake has 66 active cases, the County of St. Paul is said to have 55 active cases and Lac La Biche has 64 active cases along with 2 active cases considered in the County of Lac La Biche, according to Alberta Health Services.|
Written by Tina Karst, MyLethbridgeNow.com
