(Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM file photo)

By Lara Fominoff

Fully vaccinated in Sask. don’t have to self-isolate after close contact with COVID case

Jun 16, 2021 | 1:51 PM

Consider it a perk of becoming fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The provincial government announced during a news conference Tuesday that anyone in Saskatchewan who has had both of their COVID-19 doses, and has safely passed the two-week mark afterwards, doesn’t have to quarantine if they’re identified as a close contact of someone who comes down with the virus.

“Being required to self-isolate — and I understand — has been a tremendous hardship for many in this province,” said Premier Scott Moe, who had to quarantine in November after being identified as a close contact.

Calling it a “pretty significant” benefit of getting vaccinated, Moe said as the province moves forward, he is also hoping the federal government enacts similar rules for travellers coming into Canada from the U.S. or overseas.

How is this going to work? Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone says the SHA has got everyone’s vaccination records, including who has had their COVID-19 shots.

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“There is a provincial computer system called Panorama which everyone who’s been vaccinated has a record of how many doses, what vaccine they receive and it’s what our public health resources use, both to contact trace and to follow up,” Livingstone said.

He added anyone with a MySask health record would also be identified as having their shots, when they got them and which brand of vaccine was administered.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab says getting accurate information to Public Health from residents hasn’t been an issue so far.

“Generally when Public Health engages with a family, it’s not an issue of providing incomplete information. It’s an issue of managing it as per the protocol,” Shahab said.

The caveats to skipping self-isolation may include whether the person in question has a compromised immune system or serious health issues which may render two doses of the vaccine less effective than in most others.