Dr. Hinshaw provided a live COVID-19 update for Thursday, June 13. She is pleased with the vaccine uptake and reported that over 44,000 Albertans had been immunized yesterday alone. To date, 2.88 million have received at least one dose of vaccine.

Hinshaw reaffirmed that the vaccines do work saying, "Our data also clearly show that vaccines are effective against the most common variant circulating in Alberta right now. In Alberta, one dose of an mRNA vaccine has proven to be 73 percent effective against infection with the B.1.1.7 variant, which is the dominant strain in the province right now. Two doses are 91 per cent effective at preventing infection with this variant. In terms of the P.1 variant, a single dose is 75 per cent effective against infection while two doses bump that up to 89 per cent. I want to note that vaccine effectiveness estimates for AstraZeneca vaccine and effectiveness against other emerging variants aren’t yet available for Alberta, due to limited sample sizes. As soon as we have more reliable data for you on either of these, I will share it."

Hinshaw says that the provincial data on vaccines will be reported on the AHS website and updated regularly. She is hopeful that information will demonstrate how powerful the vaccines are and that it will motivate more people to get protected with first and second doses as soon as possible.

The COVID-19 numbers continue to trend in the right direction. 

  • Hospitalizations dropped by 24 to 411 while ICU admissions decreased to 120.
  • There were 296 new cases reported in the past 24 hours with a positivity rate of 4.5%. 
  • There are now 5,831 active cases in the province.
  • Cochrane dropped to 17 active cases while Rocky View County also dropped to 59 active cases. 
  • Unfortunately, there were another five deaths reported bringing the provincial total to 2,236.