By Chris Brown

Appointments paused

Kenney says Alberta will run out of COVID-19 vaccines by tomorrow

Jan 18, 2021 | 10:52 AM

Alberta will run out of COVID-19 vaccines in the next 24 hours, Premier Jason Kenney said on Monday morning.

“By the end of today or early tomorrow, Albertans will have no more vaccine doses in storage to administer as first doses to Albertans,” said Kenney.

First-dose appointments will not be scheduled until further notice.

He said that by pausing those appointments the province can ensure enough vaccine is allocated for committed second-dose appointments.

Second-dose appointments will not be cancelled and the premier believes Alberta can administer those necessary doses in the recommended time frame.

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The premier said the province is limited by what is supplied by the federal government and that he is deeply disappointed at the situation.

“The shipments we receive do not match the pace at which we’re able to vaccinate Albertans,” said Kenney.

On Friday, federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand said production issues in Europe will temporarily reduce Pfizer-BioNTech’s ability to deliver vaccines to Canada.

Kenney on Monday said the number of planned vaccines for eligible health-care workers will be delayed and vaccination to the Albertans in the phase 1 plan. Albertans over 75 regardless of where they live and Indigenous seniors who are 65 years and older were part of that phase.

More vaccines are expected to be delivered to the province this week.

“Despite this setback, we remain in a position to ramp up and get back to record vaccination numbers once sufficient doses are delivered,” Kenney said, acknowledging that is a moving target.

Alberta Health Services has vaccinated nearly 90,000 Albertans since Dec. 15, putting the province near the top when it comes to inoculations.

The province has completed the first dose of vaccination at all 357 long-term care and designated supported living facilities in the province.

Medicine Hat has 37 active cases of COVID-19 as of the Sunday afternoon update. There have been 515 total confirmed cases, 467 recovered cases and 11 deaths.

Alberta has had 116,837 total confirmed cases. Of those, there are 12,234 active cases and 103,167 recovered and there have been 1,436 deaths.

Keystone XL

Jason Kenney also spoke about the Keystone XL pipeline expansion on Monday.

It was reported on Sunday evening that Joe Biden plans to scrap the project on his first day as U.S. president.

READ MORE: Kenney says Alberta has strong legal argument if Keystone XL killed in U.S.

Kenney called it “a serious economic and strategic error that would set back Canada-U.S relations with the United States most important trading partner and strategic ally: Canada.”

He said more than $100 billion worth of energy, primarily Alberta crude, is transported through pipelines each year, by far Canada’s largest export to the U.S.

“This is a matter that touches on Canada’s vital economic interests and I’m therefore confident that the government of Canada, will reflect in the next couple of days the kind of priority it has placed on the construction of the Keystone XL in saying that it is at the top of the bilateral agenda,” Kenney said.

“All we ask at this point is that president-elect Biden, show Canada the respect to actually sit and hear our case about how we can be partner in prosperity, partners in combatting climate change, partner sin energy security.”