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When are the vaccines coming? Some essential workers wonder when they'll get their shot

Raelene Cull says she and her co-workers are wondering where they fall in the province's vaccination plan. ( - image credit)
Raelene Cull says she and her co-workers are wondering where they fall in the province's vaccination plan. ( - image credit)

As Newfoundland and Labrador's vaccination plan rolls out, bolstered by added time between doses and the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine, some essential workers in the province are still wondering when they'll get vaccinated.

Raelene Cull, a produce manager at a Dominion grocery store in St. John's, says she hasn't been given any indication of when she and her co-workers might be vaccinated.

"Assuming by the way the list is going, we will be in Phase 2, but … considering where they put us, we don't know if we're on that list or not," she said.

"They haven't actually [come] out and said that, so who do they consider front-line workers?"

Cull said it's been a topic of discussion among her co-workers about when they might get vaccinated.

"People are wondering and asking, 'did you hear anything, are we the ones in [Phase] 2?'" she said.

"People are curious, for sure."

Timeline should speed up

In the province's vaccination plan, the final section of Phase 2 includes "frontline essential workers who have direct contact with the public and cannot work from home during Alert Level 5," with vaccines rolling out from April to June.

The decision to leave as much as four months between shots and additional supply from AstraZeneca could speed up that timeline, however.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that people over 70 years of age are the priority at the moment and that there will be more information on the rollout of vaccines for essential workers coming soon.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that people over 70 years of age are the priority at the moment and that there will be more information on the rollout of vaccines for essential workers coming soon.(Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)

During Friday's provincial COVID-19 briefing, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said the first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to arrive in the province next week, much of which will go to first responders.

While there's no clearly defined list of who will be included as of yet, Fitzgerald said future shipments of the vaccine will be designated for front-line essential workers.

"As we move through and we get more AstraZeneca, then we'll be offering it to those who, essentially, have to go to work, the people who had to go to work through Alert Level 5 and be in contact with the public," she said.

Fitzgerald said at a previous briefing that more information will be made available time goes on and the vaccine rollout continues.

Cull said she'd be happy to get the vaccine when she gets the opportunity, but it still leaves her with some concern for the rest of her family.

"It'd be great for me, but like I was told, you can still be a carrier, so my other family that is not considered essential workers, am I bringing it home to them?" she said.

"Just because you're vaccinated, you get the shot, that doesn't mean your family's protected and you're going home to them every single day."

Health Minister John Haggie and Fitzgerald have said they don't know yet whether someone with the virus can pass it on. That's why people who are vaccinated still need to wear masks and physically distance.

Some early research has suggested, however, that it might be harder for someone to spread the virus if they get infected after getting the shot.

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