Saskatchewan is on the cusp of having Step 2 of the government’s Re-Opening Road Map being able to be put into effect three weeks after Step 1 comes into play. Friday’s update from the Ministry of Health showed 10,347 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered Thursday, moving the provincial total over 630,000 and that 69 per cent of provincial residents aged 30-and-over have received their first shot. Once 70 per cent have had at least one jab in their arm, Step 2 could go into effect three weeks after Step 1 goes into effect on May 30.

       Otherwise, for the first time since Tuesday, Saskatchewan reported two deaths related to positive novel coronavirus cases, a senior in their 70s from the Far North East and another person in the 80-and-over age range from the North West zone, for a total of 524 virus-related fatalities. There were 173 new cases of COVID-19 included in Friday’s update with 189 recoveries, meaning the active case count in the province was down marginally from Thursday at 1,776. From that number, 132 people are in hospital with 25 of those patients being treated in an I-C-U.

Vaccines Reported

An additional 10,347 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 630,583.

The 10,347 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported today were administered to residents living in the following zones: Far North West, 126; Far North Central, 3; Far North East, 71; North West, 564; North Central, 767; North East, 479; Saskatoon, 2,794; Central West, 325; Central East, 520; Regina, 2,686; South West, 339; South Central, 982; and South East, 448.  There were 243 doses administered with zone of residence pending.

Seventy-five per cent of those over the age of 40 have received their first dose.  Sixty-nine per cent of those 30+ have received their first dose.  Sixty-one per cent of those 18+ have received their first dose.

Status of Population Vaccinations, as of May 20, 2021
Group	Estimated Population	Received First Dose	Fully Vaccinated
Age 80+	51,307	45,631 (89%)	15,789 (31%)
Age 70-79	79,818	70,159 (88%)	6,302 (8%)
Age 60-69	138,471	113,770 (82%)	6,217 (4%)
Age 50-59	147,466	103,578 (70%)	7,535 (5%)
Age 40-49	151,896	94,708 (62%)	6,468 (4%)
Age 30-39	183,246	88,019 (48%)	6,435 (4%)
Age 18-29	189,909	58,373 (31%)	4,618 (2%)
Age 12-17	90,987	2,851 (3%)	68 (0%)

All vaccine administration details for the province, including first and second doses, can be found at https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness.  As the source database for vaccine information, Panorama is subject to continuous data updates which may result in revised counts, day over day.

Second Dose Booking Available for Priority Populations

Second dose vaccinations are underway for anyone who is 85 and older or who received their first dose before February 15.  Individuals diagnosed with or being treated for cancer and those who have received solid organ transplants will receive a letter of eligibility in the mail that will allow them priority access to a second dose.

Eligibility to book for second doses is based on age or date of first dose.  Residents who meet at least one of these criteria will be eligible for their second dose.  The following table is a tentative guideline; timelines may change due to vaccine availability.

Astra Zeneca is not included in this table as we await advice on the use of Astra Zeneca for timing of second doses.

Eligibility for 2nd Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine
Date eligibility changes	Eligible Age	OR	Eligible Based on Date of 1st Dose (on or before)
17-May	85	OR	15-Feb
24-May	80	OR	1-Mar
31-May	70	OR	15-Mar
7-Jun	65	OR	22-Mar
14-Jun	55	OR	7-Apr
21-Jun	45	OR	15-Apr
28-Jun	Eligibility opens based on date of first dose only		1-May
5-Jul			15-May
12-Jul			30-May
19-Jul			14-Jun
26-Jul			28-Jun

Second dose vaccination appointments can be booked through the Saskatchewan Health Authority online at www.saskatchewan.ca/COVID19 or by calling 1-833-SaskVax (1-833-727-5829).

The current list of pharmacies offering vaccinations is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-pharmacies.

For street addresses and hours of operation for drive-thru and walk-in clinics, see www.saskatchewan.ca/drive-thru-vax.

Please do not call until you are eligible to book your vaccination appointment.  If you do not know the date of your first dose or have misplaced the wallet card provided at the time of your first dose, 1-833-SaskVax can provide you with that date, or check your Immunization History on your MySaskHealthRecord account.

There may be clinic options outside your community and residents are encouraged to consider those alternate locations for immunization.  Additional stops should be avoided if possible when travelling to another community for an appointment.  More clinics will be added as new vaccine shipments are received.

During your second dose appointment, the clinic or pharmacy will validate the timing and brand of your first dose to ensure you are receiving your second dose within the recommended timeframe.  The type of vaccine available at each location will be advertised to ensure that you are receiving the same vaccine brand for your second dose.

At this time, public health is planning to offer your second dose of COVID-19 vaccine to match the brand of your first dose.  National reviews of the safety and efficacy of interchanging the second dose brand are on-going and the provincial policy on maintaining the same brand for the second dose may be updated following this review.

Additional information on how to book your appointment is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-booking.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics

There are 173 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on May 21, bringing the provincial total to 45,310 cases.  Nine cases tested out of province have been added to the Far North East, 3; North West, 1; North Central, 1; Saskatoon, 1; Central East, 1; Regina, 1; and South West, 1; zones.

Two new deaths are reported today.  One death was reported in the 70-79 age group from the Far North East zone and one death was in the 80+ age group from the North West zone.

The new cases are located in the following zones: Far North West, 4; Far North East, 2; North West, 24; North Central, 13; North East, 1; Saskatoon, 34; Central West, 6; Central East, 25; Regina, 30; South West, 3; South Central, 6; and South East, 18.  Seven cases are pending residence information.

Recoveries total 43,010 and 1,776 cases are considered active.

There are 132 people in hospital.  One hundred and seven people are receiving inpatient care: North West, 6; North Central, 7; Saskatoon, 37; Central East, 5; Regina, 43; South West, 1; South Central, 3; and South East, 5.  Twenty-five people are in intensive care: North Central, 2; Saskatoon, 9; and Regina, 14.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 case number is 162 (13.2 new cases per 100,000).  A chart comparing today’s average to data collected over the past few months is available at https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.

There were 3,331 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on May 20, 2021.

To date, 837,028 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.  As of May 19, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 703,136 tests performed per million population.  The national rate was 891,025.

As of May 20, 9,820 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the following zones: Far North West, 226; Far North East, 20; North West, 521; North Central, 347; North East, 56; Saskatoon, 1,430; Central West, 105; Central East, 517; Regina, 4,498; South West, 332; South Central, 703; and South East, 1,006.  There are 59 screened VOCs with residence pending.

There are 208 new lineage results reported today.  Of the 5,056 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 4,936 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), 98 are P.1 (Brazilian), 12 are B.1.617 (Indian) and 10 are B.1.351 (SA).

Confirmed variant of concern cases may appear in both columns on the website, depending on testing for that case.  Adding the cases identified by screening and those that have received whole genome sequencing may result in double-counting individual cases.

Further statistics on the total number of cases among health care workers, breakdowns of total cases by source of infection, age, sex and region, total tests to date, per capita testing rate and current numbers of confirmed variants of concern can be found at http://www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-cases.