Anyone in the Grande Prairie region over the age of 40 can now get a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine via a walk-in appointment.
Grande Prairie’s clinic, located at the Montrose Cultural Centre at 103 Avenue and 98 Street, is one of nine across Alberta.
Earlier this week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney encouraged anyone eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine to consider getting in line before the supply runs dry. As of Tuesday, there were only about 160,000 doses left across the province, with no confirmations on when the next shipment is going to arrive in Alberta.
Kenney says uptake for that particular vaccine hasn’t been very strong, but that should change now that anyone born in 1981 or earlier is eligible.
“Many pharmacies [in Alberta’ have been carrying a surplus of AstraZeneca doses because of the lack of demand, which should be corrected with a broadening of the age category,” he says. The primary challenge with AstraZeneca has been demand and not supply. I suspect that is going to change very quickly over the next week or so.”
Currently, in Phase 2C of the provincial vaccine rollout, those currently eligible for non-AstraZeneca doses include anyone over the age of 65, First Nations peoples over the age of 50, and front-line workers, including paramedics.
You can book an appointment, or get more information on the walk-in vaccination clinics on the Alberta Health Services website.