Sask. government expecting shipment of Johnson & Johnson vaccines: health minister

Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Janssen COVID-19 vaccine could soon be available in Saskatchewan.

"We are working on getting them in with the federal government," Health Minister Paul Merriman told reporters after Question Period Monday. 

"Obviously, it's got to go through the procurement, but we have asked for an allotment … to be able to get those people who might prefer that one shot versus having the double dose."

Though he didn't disclose how many doses the province has asked for, Merriman did note he's hopeful they'll arrive by the end of the month.

Health Canada approved the use of the J&J vaccine last spring. There was an initial shipment of roughly 300,000 doses in late April, but they were never used due to ongoing concerns about its third-party manufacturer, a Maryland-based company called Emergent.

Workers at the company's Baltimore plant inadvertently ruined some 15 million doses of this vaccine by mixing up ingredients intended for AstraZeneca shots.

Early last month, federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand's office confirmed with CBC News that Ottawa had no supply of the J&J vaccine to hand out to provinces, following a request from the Alberta government.

Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu later clarified in a news conference there were no "usable doses" on hand, but the Canadian government was working to get more to give to the provinces and territories.

While the J&J vaccine has not yet been administered in Canada, more than 15 million Americans have received a dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NDP calling on province to acknowledge medical health officer letter

As the province talks plans for another COVID-19 vaccine, the Opposition NDP says the Saskatchewan Party government is downplaying the state of pandemic.

NDP leader Ryan Meili said the government is ignoring a recent letter from the province's medical health officers that recommends more public health orders — none of which have been implemented.

"These are not lightweights," Meili told reporters after Question Period Monday. "These are people who understand this far, far better than the only [people] that I hear … which is [Premier] Scott Moe and Paul Merriman."

Meili added that government officials should at least have conversations with the doctors who signed the letter.

While Merriman admits he hasn't responded to the medical health officers, he noted that he continues to communicate about the trajectory of COVID-19 with the province's chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab.

Merriman said the provincial government is not looking at additional health measures because the ones introduced in September have lowered the number of active COVID-19 cases.

Health experts in the province have attributed the downturn in case numbers to fewer people getting tested for the virus.