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By Teagan Rasche

Medicine Hat surpasses 50,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Nov 17, 2021 | 5:26 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat has reached a new milestone in the fight against COVID-19, 50,000 residents have now received their first dose of a vaccine.

The City of Medicine Hat’s director of emergency management, Merrick Brown, calls this significant. He says there is a combination of factors that have pushed vaccine rates forward, including increased accessibility, the Restrictions Exemption Program and previous rising case counts.

50,000 first doses equate to 73.5 per cent of eligible residents over the age of 12, but the number likely won’t increase quickly.

“We are seeing a little bit of a slow down right now when it comes to first doses, we do have a bit of a gap between the first dose and second doses so we should still see our second dose case count rise up,” Brown said.

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Brown says the ultimate goal in every municipality is to get all eligible residents vaccinated.