Need your first dose? Here's where drop-in vaccine clinics are being held in Calgary

Walk-in vaccine clinics aim to bolster numbers Stephanie Thomas reports from a vaccine clinic in northeast Calgary that is offering first dose COVID-19 vaccines without an appointment.

CALGARY — Drop-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics have been opened in Calgary to entice and encourage the unvaccinated to choose to get their shots.

The arrival of the clinics comes as the province attempts to make headway in a "game of inches" toward the Stage 3 benchmark of 70 per cent of the eligible population having received their first dose of vaccine.

The vaccination centres are popping up in areas where uptake has been slow.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., appointments will not be required at the Genesis Centre in northeast Calgary.

The facility, located on Falconridge Boulevard N.E., has capacity to administer 500 shots of the Pfizer vaccine each day to those who have yet to receive their initial dose.

Another drop-in clinic is running all-week long at the Family Care Clinic of the East Calgary Health Centre in the city's southeast.

The facility is also offering first doses of mRNA vaccines to walk-ins, and the centre is open longer, closing daily at 7:30 p.m. until Friday.

Alberta experienced a surge of interest for vaccines earlier this spring but demand has now slowed to a trickle.

During a media briefing on Monday to explain the vaccine lottery incentive, Premier Jason Kenney said  Alberta's vaccination progress toward the 'Open for Summer' plans is a "game of inches."

According to the latest data, 68.8 per cent of Albertans aged 12 or older have had one dose of vaccine. The number is just shy of the benchmark for the introduction of Stage 3 that would lift virtually all restrictions.

Slightly more than 20 per cent of eligible Albertans are considered fully immunized after receiving two vaccine doses.