Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 16, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A2 A 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM VOL 150 NO 38 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2020 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 Publisher / BOB COX Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an in- dependent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 VACCINATIONS ? FROM A1 It's expected shipments will flow into the province on a weekly or biweekly basis, however, provincial officials have said it's unclear how many doses will arrive with each delivery. Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said a second ship- ment of the Pfizer vaccine is expected in Manitoba next week. He couldn't say how many doses might be on the plane. "Those numbers continually evolve, so it's hard to confirm the amount we'll receive until a bit closer to the date," Roussin said. Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba acting deputy chief public health officer, said the province needs more certainty on the volume of the next vaccine delivery before it can plan for the next stage of its rollout. "We have tens of thousands of health-care workers. I think those would be the most important indi- viduals from a logistical standpoint, to start vaccinating with, and we're working collectively to determine the next steps in how that vaccine rolls out to the general population, as well," Atwal said. On Tuesday, Pallister said the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg will be the first immunization "super-site" in Manitoba. It will be outfitted to serve as a clinic, to store the vaccine, and as a site for administration and logistics. An ultra-low temperature freezer was installed at the convention centre Monday; the clinic is expected to be fully operational in January. The first round of health-care work- ers receiving the vaccine today will head to the convention centre in 21 days to receive their second dose of the two-part Pfizer shot. Future clinics will be spread across the province in Brandon, Gimli, The Pas, Portage la Prairie and Stein- bach. The province has purchased 60 specialized freezers to store the Pfizer vaccine. Pending approval, Pallister said he expects Manitoba to receive the Moderna vaccine, which is more easily transported and can be distributed in remote and northern communities, in the new year. The premier couldn't say how many of the 168,000 doses promised Tuesday by the federal government - as part of an early delivery by Moderna - will be destined for Manitoba. "I won't speculate because I don't see the vaccines yet, and I have no confirmation - hard confirmation - I only have speculation at this point," Pallister said. - with files from Kevin Rollason danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca MANITOBA Premier Brian Pallister says he is thinking about appointing a second health minister to help the province fight its high COVID-19 case numbers. Pallister says the move would not be a criticism of Health Minister Cameron Friesen, but would help ease the workload in a department that, even in non-pandem- ic times, is the government's largest. "It's not a reflection on my faith or trust in Cam Friesen. Nobody has worked hard- er," Pallister said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press. "It is (a workload issue) and it's especial- ly onerous during an unprecedented pan- demic." Pallister said he doubts that Manitoba's health minister a century ago "had much fun during the Spanish Flu period either." A few other provinces already have two min- isters for health. In On- tario, one is dedicated to long-term care. In Brit- ish Columbia, one is fo- cused on mental health and addictions. Pallister hinted a second health minister in Manitoba would be temporary until the pandemic is over. "I always reconsider the organizational structures that we have, but I don't want to make permanent changes that are a conse- quence of short-term demands either." Friesen, who served as finance minis- ter before the last major cabinet shuffle in 2018, has come under heavy criticism during the pandemic's second wave that started in late summer. Testing capacity and contact tracing initially failed to keep up with demand as case numbers spiked. For much of the fall, Manitoba led all other provinces in new in- fections per capita. In November, Friesen accused doctors of causing chaos after 200 physicians and other scientists wrote a letter to the pre- mier that said the health-care system was being overwhelmed. One political analyst notes Friesen has been less visible since that time. It is Pal- lister, not Friesen, who frequently sits be- side the province's chief public health of- ficer at COVID-19 news conferences. "He may have been sent to the benches for a while, if not to the penalty box," said Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of polit- ical studies at the University of Manitoba. Manitoba's daily number of new COVID-19 cases has started to trend down- ward following broad restrictions brought in last month on public gatherings and businesses. Still, health officials have said intensive care units remain strained. The total number of deaths shot up from 20 at the start of October to more than 500 by mid-December. Federal Health Depart- ment statistics indicate that has left Mani- toba with the second-highest per-capita rate of COVID-related deaths in the coun- try behind Quebec. - The Canadian Press CBSA Canada Border Services Agency officers oversee shipments of initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines as they arrive in Winnipeg Tuesday. Manitoba eyes second health minister post Cameron Friesen OTTAWA - At 8:05 a.m. on a cold, cloudless day, personal support worker Jo-Anne Miner became the first person of 1.4 million in the Ot- tawa-Gatineau area to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, hours before the federal government announced that hundreds of thousands more doses would reach Canadian soil by the end of the year. Frigid boxes holding a fraction of the up to 417,000 vaccine doses set to arrive by the end of the month touched down in at least six provinces Tues- day, while Alberta and B.C. prepared to administer the medicine to health workers for the first time that after- noon. Miner is part of the legions of front- line staff and seniors-home residents slated for inoculation across the coun- try this month amid a surging second wave. "This will help create a safe space for me, my colleagues and the resi- dents," she said in a release from the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus, where 3,000 doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech sit in ultracold storage - enough for 1,500 people to get the two doses needed for maximum protection. "It has been a challenging year for so many people living and working in long-term care." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Health Minister Patty Hajdu met with care workers at the hospital Tuesday morning to thank them and witness the city's inaugural inocula- tions. These followed historic needle jabs in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City on Monday after the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Canada Sunday evening. "It's very moving, very emotional. I've been emotional for two days," Hajdu told reporters. "The light is shining, now we can ac- tually see it," she said. "This is a good day," Trudeau added. The prime minister announced Tuesday that Canada has signed a contract to receive up to 168,000 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vac- cine by the end of December, ahead of their planned January arrival and part of 40 million Moderna doses Ot- tawa has secured for delivery by the end of 2021. The Moderna vaccine has not yet been approved by Health Can- ada, but Trudeau said deliveries could begin within 48 hours of it getting the green light. Canada is also set to receive about 200,000 of its total early shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech doses next week, on top of 30,000 this week. They are bound for 70 distribution sites across the country - up from 14 now - where the vaccine can be adminis- tered. "That's not going to be enough to ex- tinguish any fires," said chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, but the incoming vaccines give her "great hope," she added. "I'm definitely looking forward to 2021 being a better year." Health workers in all 10 provinces prepared to roll up their arms this week. They are slated to start immun- ization in Manitoba today, while Sas- katchewan was on track to see nearly 2,000 doses roll off the tarmac Tues- day. Shipments touched down in all four Atlantic provinces Tuesday, with all but New Brunswick gearing up to begin immunizations today. Enough vaccine doses are set to start arriving in April for provinces to expand the vaccination program beyond the initial priority groups. Canada expects to be able to vaccinate every Canadian who wants an inocula- tion by the end of September 2021. Moderna's vaccine can be stored at -20 C, compared to -70 C for Pfizer's, making it more easily transportable to remote areas. "Doses of this vaccine will be directed to the North as well as to re- mote and Indigenous communities," Trudeau said. The three territories are scheduled to start receiving vials "in the com- ing" weeks, with medical-grade freez- ers already shipped, he added. The timeline for finishing up re- views of two more vaccines is less certain. The vaccine candidate from AstraZeneca potentially needs more study before Health Canada is ready to make a decision, and the John- son & Johnson vaccine candidate's review is still in the early stages. - The Canadian Press CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS AND MIA RABSON COVID vaccine rolls into more provinces ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Nurse Venus Lucero administers the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Ottawa Hospital to Jo-Anne Miner at a vaccination clinic on Tuesday. A_02_Dec-16-20_FP_01.indd A2 2020-12-15 10:52 PM ;