Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As in my Member's statement, I would like to ask about the release yesterday. Can the Minister explain to us who exactly are a priority for receiving the Moderna vaccine in the category that was released yesterday? I'll quote under that category, "anyone 18-plus with CPHO approval." Why would we have this designated on the release? Is there a category under that? There must be something to make that decision to add that category. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The categories that were released yesterday were front-line workers aged 18-plus who interact directly with the public and are unable to work virtually in the following areas: schools, including teachers; teacher assistants or support workers; school bus drivers; front-facing administrative workers; daytime janitors. The next category is day homes and daycares, hotels, grocery stores, drugstores, banks, libraries, postal service, liquor stores, gas stations, and convenience stores; customer service agents at airports; media, including reporters and camera crews. The last category that the Member is referencing, I believe, is an area in which the CPHO could create an exemption for a group of workers who had been inadvertently left off of this list. Thank you.
Thank you for that answer. Are non-resident employees at remote camps a priority now, or any plan to vaccinate them in the NWT?
The short answer is: no, they are not being vaccinated now. NWT resident rotational workers in the larger centres have been prioritized to receive the vaccine since January 31st. What we've seen at the Gahcho Kue Mine is that, when you have people in a congregate setting, it doesn't really matter where they're from the NWT or somewhere else. They get sick equally, and they are all infectious to one another. As a result, we had the outbreak that we had of 20 cases, one very serious case.
What I can say about this is that the NWT will not, will not prioritize non-residents over residents. When all eligible residents have been vaccinated, and if there is vaccine required or available, then the CPHO will look at the possibility of vaccinating the rotational workers who are from outside of the territory who work in the territory.
Thanks to the Minister for that answer. My next question is: the immunization clinic that was in Inuvik, there were two weeks, and then, the second week, it was rapidly cancelled. People started blowing up our phones who are from that region because they got their appointments cancelled. We always kind of hear what's going on behind the scenes, and what we were told was that the vaccine was removed from the community and sent back to Yellowknife. How much of this vaccine was set for Inuvik during that clinic from the February 1st to 5th, and how many doses were sent back to Yellowknife?
My information is that the CPHO is not aware of any clinic that was proposed or approved for Inuvik for the first week of February. That's February the 1st to the 5th, and so there was no clinic that was cancelled at that time. As I think the Member is aware, the vaccine allotted to the NWT is a public and territorial resource, and it has been moved to places where it is needed to vaccinate priority groups. In terms of how many specific vaccines were in Inuvik the first week of February, I do not have that information with me.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. People can say there was no clinic. The people that had appointments know that there was, people booked in for appointments to have vaccines for their COVID shots, and they were all cancelled. I will move onto the next question: when will all Indigenous people be made a priority in rural and urban cities, whatever the term that we are going to use, in the Northwest Territories, and added to this list that was publicly released yesterday and is defended by our federal Minister who is the one coordinating all of the vaccines going out to the territories, remote communities, and Indigenous communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Indigenous people were not listed on the new priority group because this is a public healthcare system. Everyone who works in a hotel regardless of their place of origin or their ethnicity is eligible to have a vaccine. What we do have the benefit of is that the initial vaccine allotment by Ottawa was very large to all three territories and the northern parts of the provinces in order to account for the fact that health vulnerabilities are higher in Indigenous people than they are in other populations. As a result of that, we were promised enough vaccine for 75 percent of our eligible population. As of today, we are at 44 percent of vaccinating our eligible population which puts us well ahead of any other jurisdiction in Canada, which we greatly appreciate.
We have been using the National Advisory Committee on Immunization advice to guide our own NWT vaccine strategy about identifying priority populations to vaccinate, and I just want to reiterate the two foundational principles of the development of the vaccine prioritization. The first is people who are at risk of severe disease from COVID-19, and the other is at risk of importing COVID-19. That is the foundation of our priority groups, and that is the basis on which we are now delivering vaccines.
I want to say further that, at this point, every community except Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik is open for vaccination to every person over 18 years of age. The reason that the three communities I just mentioned are not open is because of the larger populations and the availability of vaccine not matching up at this point. We are waiting for another big shipment. At this point, every community has had two clinics, and every resident over 18 years old, except in Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik, are eligible to receive that vaccine. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
