Regina AstraZeneca Drive Thru to close temporarily as it exhausts pilot vaccine supply today

​The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) anticipates running out of the 15,500 AstraZeneca doses it received earlier this month and closing the Drive Thru immunization site by the end of the day today or when the site runs out of vaccine. The closure will be temporary until more vaccine supply becomes available. The SHA is carefully monitoring the amount of vaccine remaining and the length of the queue in line to help ensure those who are in line receive their immunization.

The Regina AstraZeneca Drive-Thru Immunization Clinic is open to Saskatchewan residents aged 58 years of age and up at the time of immunization, as well as all Phase 1 eligible health care workers. The Drive-Thru site will be open until sometime this evening and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. You cannot pre-book an appointment for the Drive-Thru clinic.

“We want to thank everyone for your patience, positivity and feedback as we set up the first immunization drive thru in the province," said Laveena Tratch, SHA's Vaccine Chief for Regina's Integrated Health Incident Command. “We've been able to refine the process first established with drive-thru testing and have taken those valuable lessons learned to share with other drive-thru planning teams. We've even had other provinces asking about what we've done and learned."

As of the end of day Sunday, the Regina AstraZeneca Drive-Thru Immunization Clinic had administered 14, 272 doses of vaccine – including 2,362 on Sunday. The SHA thanks the public and all its community partners, particularly the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. (REAL), the City of Regina, the Regina Police Service and our EMS providers, for the success of the drive thru pilot. Highlights of the pilot have included the following:

• A proof-of-concept event for Phase 1 eligible health care workers on Sunday, March 14;
• Reaching targets of 2,000 vaccines administered per day at a drive-thru site; and
• The establishment of a short-range FM radio station for the site to inform the public about the vaccine and the process.  

Saskatchewan residents are being vaccinated as fast as supply allows, and it is happening in phases so people most at risk get it first, including areas with increased risk of variants of concern. More groups and areas will be eligible as Saskatchewan receives more doses. Until most Saskatchewan residents are protected by the vaccine, you must continue following all public health orders and guidelines – including wearing a mask – even after you have been vaccinated.