Newfoundland and Labrador has released the priority groups for Phases Two and Three of the vaccine rollout.

According to Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, it’s hoped that Phase Two of the vaccine rollout can begin in April.

It will depend on supply, says Fitzgerald, but right now they’re comfortable with the information on supply that Phase Two will be able to begin in April.

According to the province’s vaccine rollout plan, Phase Two includes the vaccination of:

• Adults 70 years of age and older, starting with those 80 years and older;
• Adults who identify as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
• Staff, residents, and essential visitors at congregate living settings (shelters, group homes, transition houses, correctional facilities, and children or youth residential settings);
• Adults 60 to 69 years of age;
• Adults in marginalized populations where infection could have disproportionate consequences (e.g. people experiencing homelessness or with precarious housing arrangements);
• First responders (including career and volunteer firefighters, police officers, border services, and search and rescue crew);
• Frontline health care workers who were not immunized in Phase 1 and who may come into direct contact with patients (includes private health care workers);
• People ages 16 to 59 who are clinically extremely vulnerable (as defined on page 5 of the province’s vaccination plan);
• People who are required to regularly travel in and out of the province for work, including truck drivers and other rotational workers—but does not include those who regularly cross the Labrador-Quebec border; and
• Frontline essential workers who have direct contact with the public and cannot work from home during Alert Level 5

Phase Three will involve vaccines for the rest of the province, and the rest of those in priority groups from the first two phases.

Meanwhile, the province has launched pre-registration for those 70 years of age and older.

Pre-registration can be handled online or by telephone at 1-833-668-3930 or 709-273-3930 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

They’re asking residents 70 years of age or older to pre-registered based on their last name:

• Last names starting with A to F can pre-register from Friday, February 26 to Sunday, February 28;
• Last names starting with G to L can pre-register from Monday, March 1 to Wednesday, March 3;
• Last names starting with M to Z can pre-register from Thursday, March 4, to Saturday, March 6;
• As of Sunday, March 7, anyone 70 or older who was unable to pre-register on an earlier date will be able to do so.

The order in which you pre-register will not determine the order of vaccination appointments.