Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced the province will begin vaccinating teachers, education, and child care workers. Bookings for vaccines for those individuals will begin tomorrow (May 4, 2021).

Who is eligible?

All certified teachers actively teaching in Kindegarten through to Grade 12 including those public, separate, francophone, charter, private/independent/ECS operators, and First Nations schools, substitute teachers, administrators and other certified teachers working in separate roles. Support workers including bus drivers, custodians, and others who support schools may also be vaccinated.

Certified early childhood educators and support staff province wide can begin booking appointments. This includes all staff working in licensed child care programs, including day cares, out of school care programs, preschools and family day homes.

Bookings will operate on the honour system and no proof of employment will be required.

Following the announcement, Alberta Teacher Association President, Jason Schilling issued a simple statement in response to the announcement on social media.

Additionally, due to the delayed Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Alberta will deploy 20,000 additional vaccines to support the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Town of Banff. The age group eligible for immunization in these communities will be lowered to 18 years and older.

During the update, Kenney made note of his disappointment in the rodeo that was held in Bowden over the weekend.

“I was very disturbed actually I was angered to see large numbers of people gathering this weekend at an event in Bowden in flagrant violation of the restrictions in place and of any common sense public health measures,” explained Kenney.

Due to the number of Albertans ignoring public health measures, the provincial government is developing stronger health measures which are expected to be announced tomorrow (Tuesday, May 4, 2021). 

May 3rd new case numbers:

  • 2,012 new cases of the virus for May 2nd
  • 23,608 active cases in Alberta
  • 658 people are hospitalized
  • 154 people admitted to ICUs
  • 4 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours
  • 2,090 total deaths from the virus
  • 15,054 active case variants in Alberta (1,783 in the Central Zone)
  • Variants of concern make up 63.8 per cent of active cases

Active case numbers in the Central Alberta area:

  • 172 active cases in the City of Lacombe
  • 170 active cases in the County of Lacombe
  • 863 active cases in the City of Red Deer
  • 197 active cases in the County of Red Deer
  • 166 active cases in the County of Ponoka
  • 145 active cases in the Town of Sylvan Lake
  • 105 active cases in the County of Stettler
  • 89 active cases in the County of Mountain View

**Not all cases in the Central Zone have been included.