More Albertans are now eligible to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Doctor Deena Hinshaw was not present for a regularly scheduled COVID Update yesterday. Instead, she addressed the province today, alongside Premier Jason Kenney.

Kenney took to the podium first, commending Albertans for their efforts in continuing to bring COVID cases across the province down. Being three weeks out from Thanksgiving, Kenney says there has been no spike in cases linked to the holiday or the gatherings that typically go along with it.

Alongside further encouragement to Albertans who have not yet been vaccinated to book their appointments, Kenney announced some changes regarding which Albertans can receive a third dose of the COVID vaccine. 

Effective November 8, the following Albertans may now book an appointment for a third dose booster vaccine:

  • Any Albertan aged 70 or older
  • Any First Nation, Metis, or Inuit person over the age of 18
  • Albertans 12 and older considered "high risk" who are immunocompromised with certain underlying health conditions
  • Front-line healthcare workers who received their first two doses less than eight weeks apart
  • Albertans who received two doses of AstraZeneca or one dose of Jansen while abroad

CLICK HERE to read more information on how to book a first dose, a second dose, or a booster dose. According to Alberta Health Services, a third dose cannot be administered earlier than 6 months after having received the second dose. 

As of today, 87.2% of eligible Albertans have at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 80.6% of eligible Albertans are fully vaccinated with two doses. 

When it came time for Hinshaw to speak, she reminded Albertans that whenever a person receives a vaccine, whether for COVID, the flu, or anything else, the healthcare provider who administered the vaccine is to give them a paper record of the immunization before the records are digitally sent to the persons MyAlberta Health. 

Though the digital QR code will be the only acceptable form of vaccination proof in Alberta come November 15, Hinshaw says having a physical copy of vaccine records is always a good idea. Anyone missing physical vaccination records is encouraged to contact Health Link or call 811.

In the past 24 hours, Alberta Health Services identified 487 new cases of COVID-19 from about 10,300 tests. This brings the provincial total of active COVID-19 cases to 6,693. Yesterday, the province had 6,911 active COVID cases.

There are now 657 Albertans in the hospital due to COVID-19 with 155 Albertans in intensive care. Yesterday, these numbers were 691 and 159 respectively. 

As for Alberta schools, there are active alerts or outbreaks in 184 schools. Of these, 4 schools are on outbreak status. To see a full list of school alerts or outbreaks CLICK HERE.

In the City of Airdrie, there are 122 active cases of COVID-19, a small decrease from the 127 active cases in Airdrie as of yesterday.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Rocky View County is 69, a slight increase from the 67 active cases the county had yesterday.