Dr. Joss Reimer says that next week the province may be changing its vaccination priority list.

By next week, the province will finish vaccinating Manitobans over the age of 80. This group was identified as being a high risk for adverse outcomes. She says once this group is vaccinated, the province might make changes to its general population plan.

"We have no intention of slowing down," Reimer says. "At that time we will take some further assessment about whether there are any other groups we want to add in."

When the province first announced its priority list, they said there was a separate category for Essential Workers who were not healthcare workers. They did not announce who would be in this category as the task group had not decided who would be part of this group.

With two newly-approved vaccines, Reimer is optimistic about the speed of vaccinations, potentially giving all Manitobans their first dose by the end of May.

"I am certainly optimistic that we will be able to offer all Manitobans vaccines by the end of June," she says.

The doctor says the more vaccines they have approved, the quicker they can vaccinate.

She says evidence has found the longer the delay between doses, the more effective the vaccine.

we are very confident in the data we are seeing so far in the real world about the effectiveness of the first dose."

She says there is a 70-80 per cent effectiveness rate in other jurisdictions with the one dose.

"Just because the first dose is providing a good immune response and protection now, does not mean we do not need to get to that second dose for everyone."