Vaxport choice ’eminently defensible’: premier

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/01/2021 (1196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province failing to consult with Thompson leadership before announcing the northern city’s COVID-19 vaccine super site would be located 10 kilometres away at the airport, with no public transit service, is a “hiccup.”

It does not demonstrate the Manitoba government’s penchant for top-down planning, the premier says.

“It demonstrates the Free Press tendency to highlight hiccups in an important effort that we’re undertaking as a province, which is historic in nature, which is saving thousands of lives,” Premier Brian Pallister said at a news conference Friday.

On Jan. 6, Pallister announced a “Vaxport” at the Thompson Airport would be the province’s third inoculation “super site,” and would open Feb. 1.

The news came as a surprise to local leaders, including Mayor Colleen Smook, who wrote to senior provincial officials expressing concerns the location is a $25 taxi ride, one way, from northern Manitoba’s largest city.

Smook spoke to the Free Press after meeting Thursday with public health officials who toured the Vaxport and the Thompson Regional Community Centre, which is in the city and on a bus route. She said they agreed the centre should be a main vaccination site, with Vaxport reserved for people coming from fly-in communities.

On Friday, Pallister made no mention of accommodating the residents of Thompson at the community centre. The premier said they should be happy Thompson was chosen as a vaccine super site.

“I think they should think that they’re getting an access centre — one of three communities in the province that will get a super site — which is pretty good,” Pallister said. “There’s a lot of other communities that would be happy to have one in their area.”

He said questions about choice of location have been addressed by the province’s vaccination implementation task force.

“I believe the mayor’s been contacted and other officials have as well about the rationale, which is very logical and eminently defensible for why the super site is going to be located where it’s going to be located,” the premier said.

At Friday’s news conference, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said he’d let the task force respond to specific questions about Vaxport, noting: “It’s not a simple task to plan these sites.”

“Remember, the planning is very difficult due to the nature of these vaccines. They’re very hard to store,” he said.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said a MKO representative was among those to tour the airport site, and expressed concerns about its suitability for First Nations.

“Simple things, such as the availability of washrooms and the place to wash hands, and all the things that go on with waste management — this is an issue,” said Settee, who cautioned he wasn’t the person who took the tour.

MKO also had concerns about a snowstorm or fog conditions at the airport, as well as the prospect of people waiting in airplane seats if there wasn’t space to socially distance people inside, Settee said during a COVID-19 update streamed on Facebook.

“It’s an ongoing discussion,” he said.

A spokesperson for the province said an update on Thompson and its Vaxport would be available next week.

The province needs a good vaccination plan to kick in fast, said NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who called on the premier to listen to local leadership.

“Northern Manitoba is in a very dire situation for a number of reasons, and we can’t really afford to have any delays where the province is walking back different announcements, because the people in the North need the vaccine now,” the Opposition leader said.

Manitoba may need to reconsider having three super sites, and look to Saskatchewan for vaccine roll-out ideas, said Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont.

Saskatchewan has had its daily COVID-19 case count soar, but has been able to administer the vaccine to rural communities through primary care clinics and Legion halls, he said.

— with files from Dylan Robertson

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca