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Next round of community clinics to focus on Kivalliq region; new delivery schedule for vaccines

With vaccination well underway across the territory, the next communities to host community clinics for the Covid-19 Moderna vaccine will be focused in the Kivalliq region.

The following communities will be hosting community clinics next:

  • Rankin Inlet at the community hall, Jan. 18 to 21
  • Whale Cove at Inuglak School, Jan. 19 to 20
  • Chesterfield Inlet at Victor Sammurtok School, Jan. 22 to 23
With some medical travelers in Kitikmeot and Qikiqtani being able to go to Yellowknife and Iqaluit respectively, there is more reliance on southern medical travel in general for Kivalliq, prompting the region to receive community clinics next. photo courtesy of the Department of Health

There will be a priority population clinic as well in Baker Lake, with a focus on elders 65 and over as well as healthcare staff from Jan. 25 to 27, depending on the available vaccine, eligible populations for Baker Lake may be expanded.

Clinics will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the days listed.

“We have decided to focus the next round of clinics on the Kivalliq regions for a number of reasons. The Kivalliq region is more reliant on travel south for medical travel than the other two regions,” said Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO).

“This means that the risks of exposure to Covid-19 for Kivallirmiut or introducing Covid-19 into the region are higher.”

The region was also home to active Covid-19 outbreaks in Nunavut.

The CPHO also clarified the upcoming delivery schedule for the Moderna vaccine, 3,000 doses arrived in Iqaluit on Jan. 14, and 3,000 were expected to arrive on Jan. 15 in Rankin Inlet.

Another 6,000 doses are expected to arrive in the territory the week of Feb. 1.

“That means by early February, Nunavut will have received 18,000 of the 37,500 doses of the vaccine allocated to Nunavut,” said Patterson.