Alberta Health Services confirmed Thursday that plans are underway to set up on-site COVID-19 immunization clinics at the Cargill meat processing facility in High River.
According to the press release, AHS and its partners will also look to expand this pilot to other meat processing plants in the coming weeks, as our vaccine supply becomes more consistent.
Dates and times for these clinics will be determined by timing of Phase 2C rollout and vaccine availability.
With more vaccines arriving in Alberta every week, the Alberta government is also expanding its rapid-flow COVID-19 vaccine program.
The Red Deer immunization clinic at Westerner Park will be added to the rapid flow model Friday. It is one of five large-scale immunization clinics that will shift to rapid flow mode, as well as Edmonton’s EXPO Centre, which will open April 12.
The Westerner Park location already has the ability to see up to 1,000 clients per day.
It has adopted a quicker, safer hub strategy vaccine delivery that was first used in Ontario.
Instead of the usual clinic set-up, where clients have to wait their turn to be called, and then are moved around to different spaces for their shot and recovery, people at Westerner Park are immediately directed to sit in one of 72 individual stalls or “pods,” which are separated by partial walls.
Two nurses pushing a mobile vaccination cart will then go up and down the aisles, vaccinating people from pod to pod.