Albertans who got vaccinated in May can now book second dose appointments

EDMONTON – Second-dose vaccine appointments are now open for the 1.1 million Albertans who received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in May or earlier.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement Friday.

WATCH: Kenney, Shandro provide an update on vaccinations in the province

Effective immediately, Albertans can book their second dose online.

If you got a dose in June, you can book at any point four weeks after that shot.

“Thanks to the improved vaccine supply from the federal government we’re now able to get second doses in arms even faster. And I’m also pleased to note that if you got a first dose in June. You can get your second dose as soon as four weeks have passed since your first dose.”

But, if you happened to get AstraZeneca for your first dose, Shandro still advises waiting eight weeks before getting that booster shot.

“If your first dose was AstraZeneca like mine, we recommend that you wait at least eight weeks for your second just to ensure maximum protection, and I want to emphasize, that’s not because of any concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine, or because of supply. It’s because it works better if you get a little longer between, like Dr Hinshaw and I had done. And if you had AstraZeneca as your first dose, it’s still your choice, which vaccine you get on your second dose,” Shandro said.

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Kenney and Shandro added that the window to sign up for the first draw in the vaccine lottery will close in a week now that we’ve hit the 70 per cent threshold needed to move to stage three of reopening.

Over 3.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta.