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A shot more valuable than gold — Alberta is ramping up COVID-19 vaccinations.

But that’s a mammoth task, more complicated than it might first appear. That’s why the Edmonton Journal built this community-driven Guide to the Vaccine Rollout.

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Your questions answered — An Alberta guide to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout Back to video

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Here are questions we’ve tackled so far:

• Who is included in Group 2B — high risk individuals with chronic health conditions?
• How is Alberta preparing for a surge in vaccines?
• Why are some pharmacies booking people for a vaccine early?
• Should you get the vaccine if you already had COVID-19?

Booking questions:

• When can children start getting the vaccine?
• Why can Indigenous Albertans get access at a younger age?
• What age groups are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine?
• Why and how is Alberta using the AstraZeneca vaccine?
• Can people choose which vaccine they get?
• Is the booking system still overwhelmed?
• Is there privacy if you need the shot in your thigh?
• Can couples get vaccinated together if one is younger?
• Is the COVID-19 vaccine free, even for out-of-province visitors?
• Will Albertans get a ‘vaccine passport’ for COVID-19
• How will homebound seniors get the shot?
• Will Alberta use mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics?
• Why were some frail seniors left off the first priority list?

Medical questions:

• Whose second dose is delayed and is that dangerous?
• Is the vaccine safe?
• Can you still transmit the virus after getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
• Could allergies prevent someone from getting the shot?
• Should heart transplant, cancer or other immunocompromised patients get the vaccine?
• Do immunocompromised patients need a doctor’s note?
• What side effects does the COVID-19 vaccine cause?

Thank-you to the more than 400 people who helped focus this guide through submitting questions. This was part of Groundwork, our pilot project in engagement journalism. Read more about that here and sign up for the newsletter to follow along.

Our focus on Seniors & COVID-19 will continue into April with a new series on the reality of caregiving in Alberta, brought into sharp focus by the pandemic. Help with that project here.

Who is included in Group 2B — high-risk individuals with chronic health conditions?

People with Down syndrome, who have been hospitalized recently for a mental health illness, who have severe obesity or are pregnant are among the many people on Alberta’s new list of vaccine priorities.

The full list is available at alberta.ca. It also includes people who have been treated for cancer in the past year, have diabetes requiring treatment with insulin or have had a transplant. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw made the long-awaited announcement at her daily update Monday.

These people will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines once Group 2A (ages 65 to 74) has finished booking. They do not require a doctor’s note, though Hinshaw said people are invited to consult their doctor if they have questions. Alberta Health will be operating on the honour system.

The wait for these details has been agonizing for many of those sheltering around vulnerable individuals all year.

That includes Karen Gibson, caring for her adult son Zane, who has muscular dystrophy. Especially in the information void, it felt like those with chronic illness had been forgotten in Alberta’s decision to focus first on its oldest residents. “Protect our most vulnerable people. I feel like I can’t fight for anything until that’s resolved,” she said earlier. “But there’s no one to talk to. No one’s listening.”

“What happens if something happens to us, and (my son) Daniel has nobody to care for him? Or what happens if Daniel catches COVID? It’s a black place to be,” said Donna Desjardins, whose adult son has Down syndrome and lives with her at home. Read more on this from journalist Lauren Boothby here.

Group 2C includes caregivers and anyone living in group homes including those for people with disabilities. Hinshaw said caregivers refers to the designated essential caregivers in care homes. It does not include family helping at-risk people in the community.

How is Alberta preparing for a surge in vaccines?

Health officials are predicting a dramatic surge in vaccine deliveries next week as companies start making good on their promised shipments.

The Public Health Agency of Canada expects a smaller-than-normal shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, with fewer than 445,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech shots scheduled for delivery over the next seven days. But the agency expects it will be the last in which Canada will receive fewer than 1 million doses over a seven-day period.

Pfizer and BioNTech alone are on tap to deliver more than that each week for the foreseeable future. Canada is also expected to start receiving more shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine starting in April, as well as Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose inoculation.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro has said Alberta will turn to family doctors, pharmacists and public health nurses to ramp up its campaign when the supply increases.

Alberta has also built up surge capacity, up to 180,000 doses a week, he said, “if there was suddenly an approval for a vaccine candidate that is currently waiting for approval from Health Canada and we receive an unforeseen amount.” If Alberta suddenly has many doses on hand, it would set up “rapid flow through clinics,” among other innovations. He has not given more detail on where or how that would operate.

Alberta Health says it expects all adult Albertans who want the shot will be able to get one by the end of June, which is based on a calculation assuming 80 per cent of Albertans will sign up.

Why are some pharmacies booking people for a vaccine early?

Booking for seniors age 65 through 74 is supposed to start Monday online and through 811, beginning with those who are  74 and moving forward in one-year steps.

But multiple people have written in saying they or their friends were able to book early by calling a local pharmacy. “Very convenient at our drugstore,” said Donna Begg last week, who is 71 and got an appointment for March 22.

Others have been put on a pharmacy waiting list, in which case it might be faster to book directly with AHS.

Currently, 102 pharmacies in Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary have gotten about 200 doses each to immunize customers. Health officials said 156 additional pharmacies will be added to the list next week, including in smaller urban areas.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw was asked on Wednesday why pharmacies are booking early and if there are consequences.

Hinshaw explained pharmacies have been given Pfizer vaccines, which can only be stored at refrigerator temperatures for several days. Albertans 75 and older are encouraged to book at a pharmacy but the number of those seniors signing up has slowed down and there are still available appointments.

“It’s critical those doses not be wasted,” she said. That’s why pharmacies have been told, if vaccine is going to expire, they should use it on someone outside the exact limits of who is currently eligible. “They would naturally go on to that next category in order to not waste that vaccine.”

Edmonton resident Karen Parker pulled the Blue Cross data to create a searchable map of participating pharmacies. This is a static screen shot. Click here for her map.

Should you get the vaccine if you already had COVID?

Three out of every 100 Albertans have already tested positive for COVID-19. They might assume that’s just as good as a vaccine, but health experts are recommending they book an appointment anyway.

Natural immunity is not as strong and long-lasting as the immunity given by a vaccine, said University of Alberta infectious disease expert Dr. Lynora Saxinger. “Natural immunity can wane and it’s safer to get the vaccine,” she said, at least one dose to act as a booster.

In addition, there are early suggestions the vaccine can help the so-called long-haulers. These are people who continue to have symptoms such as muscle weakness, fatigue, a racing heart or brain fog months after an infection. One study in Wuhan on patients hospitalized with COVID-19 found 76 per cent had at least one symptom six months later, and an analysis of medical records in California found this can even affect people who had no symptoms during the initial infection.

But some American patient support groups are now starting to report the vaccine helps. More research is needed but it sounds promising, said Saxinger.

Booking questions

When can children start getting the vaccine?

COVID-19 vaccines were first developed for adults because they are most at risk to develop serious complications from the disease. But there are also children at risk, and young people who live with parents or guardians at high risk.

Joyce Bell wrote in looking for “some ray of hope” to share with her granddaughter Annika, who has to study from home because of the risks posed by her type 1 diabetes.

“When can individuals under 16 years of age with compromised immune systems expect to receive a vaccine and be able to return to some kind of normal live?” she asked.

Dr. Jim Kellner, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the University of Calgary, said the research to confirm the vaccines are safe for children and establish the right dose is already starting. His clinic is hoping to participate in two trials in Alberta.

These trials will go faster than the initial clinic trials because they don’t have to start from scratch, giving a vaccine or placebo and waiting for exposure. Instead, they’ll administer the vaccine, then test the child’s blood to look for antibodies.

“There will be results for adolescents by June,” he said, which means the older children can hopefully get their shots as early as this summer. Doctors will advance with tests in progressively younger children, with results for children age six to 11 expected in six to nine months, and results for the youngest group in nine months to a year.

It’s important not just for the children but for all of society, he said. It would be hard to reach herd immunity and stop the virus from continuing to spread and mutate without them.

Why are younger Indigenous Albertans getting access to vaccines?

The first Indigenous elders living on reserves got access to COVID-19 vaccines while Alberta was vaccinating high-risk health-care workers. Indigenous people age 65 and older living on a reserve or Metis settlement got access at the same time the vaccine was offered to other Albertans age 75 and older.

Now any Indigenous person age 50 and older can get access no matter where they live, which is 15 years younger than for the general population.

That’s because Alberta is seeing severe illness at younger ages in this population, said Hinshaw. People who are Indigenous must declare that when booking an appointment but the information is not retained or linked to their health-care file.

Elder Doreen Alexis said she changed her mind and decided to get the vaccine while watching at her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “(The young people) are telling us they need to take care of us,” she said. “But the reason why I took it, is to take care of myself so I can help the younger generation.”

“To survive; to help them on this,” she said. “Because it’s still not over yet.”

What age groups are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine?

The increasing vaccine supply and decision to postpone second vaccine shots means many more Albertans can get their first dose soon.

Rather than waiting for April, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced that Group 2A, seniors age 65 to 74, could start signing up for appointments on March 15. That’s for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

To avoid crashing the website again, they are advancing in increments by age. But once an individual is eligible, they are always eligible. Anyone who does not have access to the internet can call 811. An operator will access the booking site for them.

In addition, adults age 50 to 64 without serious chronic health conditions can opt to advance more quickly by selecting the AstraZeneca vaccine. The first shipment of that vaccine went quickly but Alberta Health said it will reopen to the same age group when more AstraZeneca arrives.

There is no list of health conditions that prevent someone from getting AstraZeneca. On Wednesday, chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said it’s up to each individual to decided. “There is no requirement to prove an individual is healthy.”

She said the vaccine is less effective but not dangerous for anyone to receive.

Why and how is Alberta using the AstraZeneca vaccine?

Clinical trials found the new vaccine AstraZeneca was 62 per cent effective at completely preventing COVID-19 infection, compared to 94 per cent for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. But local experts say the new option is better than those numbers suggest.

“If it was all we had, we’d be super excited about it right now,” said Dr. Joan Robinson, paediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

“In the pre-trials, the AstraZeneca did not do as good a job at preventing COVID infections, but it did prevent severe infections, hospitalizations and death every bit as well as did the other two vaccines.”

It’s also important to know the reason there isn’t enough data to prove AstraZeneca is effective in older adults is because early trials didn’t recruit enough, said Dr. Jim Kellner, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, who sits on the national COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.

“There are some real advantages to this vaccine,” Kellner said. “It only requires a regular refrigerator so it’s easy to distribute more broadly,” stressing the need to get this in doctor’s offices and neighbourhood pharmacies if Canada is ever going to get ahead of the virus variants and reach herd immunity. “It can’t all be done through AHS clinics.”

Can people choose which vaccine they get?

Unlike other provinces, the Alberta government is allowing people to decide whether they get the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine or wait instead for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines if they have efficacy or ethical concerns.

Premier Jason Kenney said he’s “been clear with our health officials here that people must have a choice.”

Kenney said people’s choices could be made on the basis of ethical concerns — the AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured with fetal cell lines, which are lab-grown cells cloned from fetal cells used to grow the virus — or preferences about which vaccine is more effective.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations recommended provinces use the AstraZeneca vaccine to speed up access for lower-risk groups who would otherwise be waiting for protection. In Alberta’s new rollout plan, only healthy adults age 50 to 64 who would otherwise be far down the list have the choice to get AstraZeneca.

Booking started March 10 and quickly filled up. The same age groups will be eligible when Alberta gets a new shipment.

Is the booking system still overwhelmed?

Seniors describe the first day of COVID-19 vaccine bookings as insanely frustrating with hours and hours spent dealing with blank screens, phone hang-ups and error messages. Since then, the head of Alberta Health Services has apologized and the process has improved.

Here is the online link. People can also check if a pharmacy near them has vaccine. That list is here.

Alberta expects enough vaccine to give every senior 75 and older at least their first dose by the end of March, and all adults who want the vaccine by the end of June.

Seniors must bring government-issued identification and their Alberta Health Care number with them to the appointment. When Postmedia asked what kinds of ID will be accepted, since some seniors no longer have a drivers’ license or passport, we got the following response: “Typically two pieces of I.D., enough information for AHS to issue a (permanent patient identifier) if they don’t have an Alberta Health Care card.”

If people need transportation, they can call 211 for options. Alberta Health says all clinics are fully accessible, have chairs and staff to help with mobility challenges. Health officials are asking people to wait in their car until a few minutes before their appointment.

Officials earlier said home care nurses will help vaccinate people who are homebound. Seniors living in lodges or private supportive living do not need to make individual appointments.

Edmonton resident Karen Parker pulled the Blue Cross data to create a searchable map of participating pharmacies. This is a static screen shot. Click here for her map.

What happens if you need the shot in your thigh?

One reader wrote in because she had a double mastectomy. That means she gets the flu shot in her thigh and picks a health clinic with a spare room for privacy.

Alberta Health Services spokesman Kerry Williamson said all of the COVID-19 health clinics have been designed with this privacy requirement in mind.

Like for the flu shot, the COVID-19 vaccine will have to be give in the thigh for double mastectomy patients, he said. That’s true for any condition that causes short or long term circulatory problems affecting a specific limb, such as mastectomy or amputation, because it impairs vaccine absorption.

Can couples get vaccinated together if one is younger? And if not, should they wait?

Catherine Sandmeyer wrote in. She and her husband have been married more than 45 years and have been isolating together on their farm, expecting to get the vaccine together as well.

But he’s older than 75, and she’s younger. Since the vaccine is not 100 per cent effective, should they wait to get vaccinated? she asked.

Several others asked the same question. But Saxinger said they should not wait. Even having one person in the couple vaccinated will be a benefit. Then if one person gets sick, the other can care for them. “I’d say get the vaccine, whatever one is offered, as soon as it’s offered. You would be reducing your risk of the household.”

Others have asked if younger seniors can get vaccinated at the same time as older seniors. The answer from Alberta Health is no. Vaccine eligibility is individual.

Is the COVID-19 vaccine free, even for out-of-province visitors?

Yes. The COVID-19 vaccine is covered by Alberta provincial health care and is free, including for temporary foreign workers and anyone covered by another province’s plan.

Alberta Health spokesman Tom McMillan said it is also free for non-permanent residents, such as those here on the Parent Super Visa who have resided in Alberta for at least three months.

The online booking tool asks for an Alberta Health Care number but if anyone is eligible based on their age or occupation, they should be able to advance to booking an appointment without entering that number.

Will Albertans get a ‘vaccine passport’ for COVID-19?

Robert Newstead is dreaming of the day he can get back on a cruise ship, stretch out on a beach or board the bus in a foreign city.

But he might have to prove he’s vaccinated against COVID-19 to do that. Is Alberta Health giving that documentation? he asked, submitting a question for the Edmonton Journal’s community-driven Guide to the Vaccine Rollout. “We’d like to book a destination resort somewhere,” said Newstead, 77, hoping that’s an option at least in 2022.

Premier Jason Kenney has been adamant there will be no consequences for anyone who declines the vaccine in Alberta.

“Nothing will happen, absolutely nothing. You’re good to go,” he said, in response to a question at a virtual town hall Feb. 3. “We are not going to be issuing so-called vaccine passports or any documentation. We believe that would be a violation of the privacy act.”

But that’s not totally accurate. When Postmedia put the question to chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw Thursday, she said everyone vaccinated gets a printed record that includes the time, type of vaccine and the lot number the dose was drawn from.

“It is routine practice for anyone who receives a vaccine to have documentation of that,” she said. The information will also be in Albertans’ My Health Record portal. “It can be accessed and printed at any time.”

People who are vaccinated already face fewer restrictions in Israel, and Hawaiian officials are looking at exempting them from quarantine. Some experts say a vaccine passport is inevitable.

How will homebound seniors get the shot?

Janice Ryan was one of several people who wrote in concerned about transportation. Ryan is the primary caregiver for her 93-year-old mom, who broke her hip and is now immobile.

“Can we get the shot in her home?” she wrote, worried about having to call an ambulance to get her mother to a clinic for a shot. “My mom is fragile and exposed to the home care workers coming to the house.”

Officially, Alberta Health Services says people in this situation should consult their medical team.

In an interview, Calgary Zone medical officer of health Dr. Jia Hu said home care nurses will be among those enlisted to bring the vaccine to seniors and others who can’t leave their homes.

“We’ll use home care. We’ll find a way to do that, for sure,” he said.

Why were some frail seniors left off the first priority list?

Seniors in “designated” supportive living were offered the vaccine in December and January. Seniors in “licensed” supportive living have been waiting for weeks.

“Maybe it’s a tempest in a teapot, but it means a lot. They’re at high risk for mortality and serious illness,” said John Lilley, whose 97-year-old mother Marjorie Lilley is still waiting in a licensed facility, Canterbury.

People wrote in to say they felt lied to, like “second-class citizens,” because reports claiming all seniors’ homes got the vaccine are simply untrue. Only that never was the government’s claim. It just sounded like it.

This has been a huge source of frustration for people. I’ve written about the issue at length here.

Medical questions

Whose second dose is delayed and is that dangerous?

Alberta is following other jurisdictions and will extend the time between first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine to up to four months.

But that’s only for appointments booked after March 15, which is when seniors age 65 to 74 can start booking. Health Minister Tyler Shandro said second dose appointments that have already been booked will be honoured.

Several people have written in, wondering if a delayed second dose will prevent them from travelling or visiting family this summer. That’s difficult to say.

In trials, both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines showed an efficacy of 92 per cent 14 days after the first dose is given up until the second dose, which was between 19 and 42 days later, according to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).

Data from Quebec, British Columbia, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States show effectiveness of 70 per cent to 80 per cent up to two months after the first dose. Read more.

Scientists are also collecting more data on how long immunity lasts. “The first two months (after the first) dose show very high levels of immunity against COVID-19 and there’s no waning or decrease in your immune response,” said deputy chief medical officer of Indigenous Services Canada Dr. Evan Adams. “If we look at other vaccines, the immune response can last considerably longer than two or four months.”

Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?

COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time but not without oversight. That work continues today as researchers in a network across Canada search for evidence of bad reactions.

In most provinces, health professionals are legally required to report unexplained sicknesses or an adverse reaction that follows a vaccination. That’s an early warning system. As of March 8, Alberta had 126 of these reports out of 303,823 shots.

At first glance, that might sound scary. Serious reactions include those that are life threatening, require hospitalization, create a persistent disability or a birth defect. But Karina Top, associate professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University, says many cases are not actually caused by the vaccine at all.

“Health problems will happen after vaccination and most of them have nothing to do with the vaccine,” she said. But each serious event gets investigated, then analyzed at a national level to watch for trends.

Top sits on that committee. “With these vaccines, everyone is being extra careful and vigilant,” she said. These adverse events are very rare. “We’re just starting to get the early (Canadian) numbers in. There has been more data publicly released from the U.S. that don’t show any concerning patterns among elderly people in long-term care facilities.”

Public Health Agency of Canada is publicly reporting on this data.

Norway cautioned doctors to consider the impact of common vaccine side effects such as temporary fever or nausea after 33 frail, elderly patients died within six days of getting the shot. But a further investigation by the World Health Organization found this these fatalities were in line with the number of deaths expected in that population and likely not caused by the vaccine.

Like with the flu shot, patients are required to stay for 15 minutes after the shot is administered in case there is an allergic reaction. Vaccine clinics are equipped to respond.

Can you still transmit the virus after the COVID-19 vaccine?

Now that some older adults have been vaccinated, families are wondering when it is safe to visit again, especially when a grandparent is vaccinated but could expose an immunocompromised child or grandchild.

There is a risk vaccinated people can still pick up and pass on the COVID-19 virus, and health authorities recommend vaccinated people still take precautions and wear masks.

But the risk is small, said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infection disease specialist at the University of Alberta who also sits on Alberta Health’s science advisory panel.

What’s happened is the scientific, lawyerly approach is going strictly by the book, and because transmission was not directly assessed in the clinical trials, the scientists can’t specifically say it’s prevented. But in popular opinion, that’s turned into people believing transmission will still happen, “which is super regrettable,” she said.

Vaccine manufacturers are now studying this directly, and promising more results soon. But already there’s indirect evidence to suggest the vaccine also decreases transmission. “In the Moderna trial, when people came for their second dose, they swabbed them and they were much less likely to carry virus at that second visit if they were vaccinated,” said Saxinger.

There’s also indirect evidence from when people are treated with COVID-19 antibodies. That’s very much like getting a vaccine because the antibody is produced in the blood, not the nose, she said. When those antibodies are provided, doctors see the virus load in the patient drop quickly.

“My read is that it’s extremely unlikely (people will transmit the virus much after they develop immunity),” she said. “We’re not getting the signal of big viral carriage.”

Could allergies prevent someone from getting the shot?

Edmonton residents with allergies to shellfish, eggs, nuts and penicillin wrote in to see if that would keep them from getting the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Saxinger says no. Based on all the observations so far, no common allergy should keep someone from getting these COVID-19 vaccines. She says anyone with an allergy that is severe enough for them to carry an EpiPen should bring that to any immunization appointment, and they should stay longer than the standard 15 minutes, just in case.

But for these vaccines, “when you look at the overall anaphylaxis data sets, there’s some U.S. stuff that was just updated recently, it’s extremely rare,” she said.

“It’s actually remarkable,” she said. Even reported cases that have been classified as anaphylactic reactions have been fairly minor in all the reports she’s seen. “A lot of them have been dealt with with fairly minimal intervention and no one has required hospitalization.”

Should transplant, cancer or other immunocompromised patients get the vaccine?

Yes, these patients should get the vaccine, said Saxinger. Recently, an advisory board with medical specialists from all the immunocompromising conditions got together to summarize the advice for the Government of Alberta, she said.

The advice is standard across the board — get the vaccine because it’s not dangerous. There’s been no evidence that people will experience an immune flare or other reaction, Saxinger said.

Just be prepared for it to be less effective in an immunocompromised patient than in the rest of the population because a depressed immune system won’t react quite as vigorously.

“But there are lots of examples where even partial protection is better than no protection,” said Saxinger. “Go for it, just continue to be careful as well.”

Do immunocompromised patients need a doctor’s note?

Jill Tucker booked her in-laws an appointment only to have them turned away Wednesday. They both have cancer, with one of them on chemotherapy, and the on-site supervisor said they needed a doctor’s note before getting the vaccine.

However, it appears that was an error. Alberta Health Services spokesman Kerry Williamson the health service is recommending “anyone who is immunocompromised, autoimmune, pregnant, or breastfeeding, have a conversation with their physician before booking an appointment, regarding the risks and benefits of the vaccine for them.”

But a doctor’s note is not required, he said. “Verbal confirmation from a client indicating that they have had a conversation with their physician with recommendation to proceed with immunization is sufficient.

“The only people who should NOT receive the COVID-19 vaccine without approval from their physician are transplant patients,” he wrote by email.

What side effects does the COVID-19 vaccine cause?

With more than 45,000 people vaccinated in Alberta by mid February, doctors are noticing that it’s more common for people to feel side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine than from the seasonal flu shot. But it’s still a temporary annoyance and the majority of people get nothing more than a sore arm.

Common symptoms are a headache or fatigue, which can last a couple of days. Chills and muscle pain are also reported after the second dose, and people who are younger are more likely to feel these effects as their strong immune system prepares a defence.

At CapitalCare in Edmonton, Dr. Brian Sereda oversees care for more than 1,000 residents in 11 homes. He said roughly one to two per cent of residents reported fatigue, fever or chills and a few more had a sore arm. Those numbers doubled with the second dose.

Staff were more likely to notice side effects, and in numbers that generally matched what the drug company’s initial tests found, he said. In the Pfizer and Moderna studies, each of the common symptoms was reported by roughly five to 15 per cent of participants for the first dose, which doubled for the second dose.

Within CapitalCare, pockets of care home staff were at first leery about getting the vaccine and some sites saw only 60 per cent uptake. But that’s changing, Sereda said. Now many staff who initially declined the vaccine are requesting it. “Now we’re up to 80 per cent at most sites.”

For Dr. Walter Mair, 69, the chills, fatigue and headache were bad enough to send him to bed about 24 hours after the second dose. But it cleared up; it’s way better than getting COVID-19, he said. “You might feel under the weather,” Mair said. “Stay home, rest. Treat the symptoms. Just don’t try to push yourself.”

estolte@postmedia.com

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This article is part of Groundwork II: Seniors & COVID-19, an Edmonton Journal engagement project that runs through March. Participate and get weekly updates by joining the mailing list at groundwork.edmontonjournal.com.