Province to allow walk-in appointments for AstraZeneca vaccine at pair of Alberta clinics

EDMONTON (660 NEWS) — Walk-in vaccinations for the AstraZeneca vaccine will be made available through a pair of Alberta Health Services (AHS) clinics on Saturday for those between the ages of 55 and 64.

This move comes in addition to the 26 pharmacies across the province allowing walk-in vaccinations currently.

One location will be the Edmonton EXPO Centre, the other being at the Southport clinic in Calgary.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says regardless of where someone lives in the province, they will be able to go to either of these clinics to get their shot.

WATCH: Dr. Deena Hinshaw provides an update on COVID-19 in Alberta

Currently, 710 pharmacies across the province offer the AstraZeneca vaccine and Hinshaw hopes people will look at the positive effects of the AstraZeneca shot over the extremely rare negatives seen in some patients.

Most of those concerns coming in relation to blood clots.

Hinshaw reinforced that there have been no reports of the rare blood clots in any patients in all of Alberta, and just one case in all of Canada.

“With all the coverage that is out there, it can be easy to lose track of how rare these blood clots actually are.”

Hinshaw provided the example of doses given out in the United Kingdom, which was at roughly 20.2 million at the end of March. Just 79 cases of blood clots were reported in that time frame.

READ MORE: All youth extracurricular activities in Calgary must be outdoors or put on pause Monday for two weeks

Some quick facts from Hinshaw to support the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine even further include:

• Global frequency of these rare blood clots reported at 1 in 100,000 to 250,000 doses
• In Alberta, someone between the age of 55 and 59 who is diagnosed with COVID-19 has a 1 in 200 chance of dying from the virus
• Albertans between the ages of 55 and 64 are at least 1,500 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 than to experience the rare blood clots

 

WATCH: CityNews’ Jonathon Muma takes a look at the risks of COVID-19 and how it sizes up against some vaccine concerns

Hinshaw finished off by issuing one last message to those who are putting off getting the AstraZeneca shot to receive a different form of vaccine.

“Delaying getting AstraZeneca is putting your health at increased risk during this time of waiting.

Rely on proven information, not rumours.”

The vaccine information from Hinshaw comes as the province saw a jump in variant cases Thursday, as well as the highest case count we’ve seen this year.

Over the last 24 hours, 1,646 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Alberta, and 1,020 of those are variants of concern.

This now puts variant cases at over 53 per cent of all active cases in the province.

Currently, 416 people are in hospital with COVID-19, and 86 people are in the ICU.

Five additional deaths were reported Thursday.

the 1,646 new COVID cases in Alberta is the highest daily total since December 13 (1867 cases)#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab https://t.co/ANWUylO0fD

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) April 15, 2021