Every health-care encounter is an opportunity for vaccination
A message from Sharon Garratt, VP Integrated Urban Health, Chief Nursing Officer and ELT Sponsor for Immunization, Dr. Kevin Wasko, Physician Executive, Integrated Rural Health and ELT Sponsor for Immunization, Sheila Anderson, Vaccine Chief, SHA EOC and SHA Immunization Program Lead, and Dr. Tania Diener, Medical Health Officer and SHA Immunization Program Lead
Every health-care encounter needs to be an opportunity for vaccination.
As we endure the fourth wave of COVID, our system is being tested like never before. The hard work and dedication of our health-care workforce across the province is so appreciated. You have weathered this latest surge and demonstrated remarkable resiliency.
It is clear to all of us working in the system how integral vaccination programs have been throughout the past year. The COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and have a downstream impact on our system overall. Through our collective efforts to increase the number of people that are vaccinated each day, we prevent COVID-19 infections, minimize illness, and ultimately decrease the potential for acute and critical care admissions.
As booster doses for certain populations, Influenza vaccines and COVID vaccines for children ages 5-11 become widely available, a system-wide response will be imperative.
We recognize how hard teams are working and how busy everyone is. We also know that increased vaccination coverage will ultimately allow us to emerge from the pandemic. We need everyone to do their part because the delivery of vaccines has become a team effort requiring every health-care worker’s dedication.
Every health-care encounter needs to be an opportunity to vaccinate for both COVID and Influenza. The vaccines can be co-administered together and delivered across care settings in Saskatchewan. This includes, but is not limited to: emergency departments, acute care wards, ambulatory care settings, primary health care clinics, physician offices, outpatient therapies and home care.
Further information, resources and tools will be circulated to leaders in the system next week to enable the successful implementation of this approach. Where this is already happening, please continue to support the work.
Thank you for taking the extra time to ensure that the right thing for our patients to do becomes the easy thing to do.
