EDMONTON — Nearly 75 per cent of eligible Albertans have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but the province is having trouble getting the rest to follow suit.

First-dose uptake has been dropping since May, with Sunday marking the daily lowest amount administered since February.

“With any sort of campaign, you’re going to see an initial push and big uptake, because it’s novelty. Now we’re in the hard slog,” said Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan, co-lead of the AHS COVID Vaccine Task Force.

“This is not surprising from my perspective that we would have to work harder for that last 10-20 per cent, especially in some of the age groups.”

Albertans between 12 and 18 are one group the task force is hoping to see vaccinated before school begins in September.

The other age groups “lagging” behind the others is the 20-29 and 30-39 groups, according to Nijssen-Jordan.

Messaging being sent out to encourage and inform people about vaccines is being tailored to those groups. The task force has also been working with universities and the Hutterian Safety Council to encourage vaccine uptake.

“We are using temporary clinics, mobile clinics, drive-thru clinics, advertising campaigns and much more,” said Tom McMillan with Alberta Health. “There are more than 1,400 pharmacies offering the vaccine, along with hundreds of AHS clinics and physicians’ offices.”

There are more than 280,000 vaccine appointments booked for the next 14 days, added McMillan.

“We are a national leader in second doses… we have higher immunization rates than the United States, Germany, Italy or France, among others,” said McMillan.

Experts reiterated the need to get a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. More than 60 per cent of eligible Albertans have received their second dose.

“In order to develop enough immunity in our population, especially with some of these variants, we really need to get closer to that 90 per cent or, if possible, over,” said Nijssen-Jordan.

“Come in to the clinic, we have lots of capacity, we have lots of vaccine… they’re all safe and effective.”

Experts call the reasons some have not gotten vaccinated complex, including lack of access, lack of trust or religious beliefs.

“There is no one-size fits all solution to vaccine hesitancy, and to imagine that there is one is stupidity,” said Dr. Ubaka Ogbogu, a health law professor at the University of Alberta.

Data from the province shows that vaccination rates in rural Alberta are lower. The Edmonton and Calgary areas are sitting at the 60-80 per cent rate for first doses.

The government is actively encouraging Albertans to get vaccinated, but experts worry the current public health policy and messaging is counterproductive.

One public health expert found a recent video tweeted out by the premiere “frustrating.”

“It really tried to give the impression it (the pandemic) is over,” said Tim Caulfield. “From a public health policy perspective I think it could be really damaging.”

Three weeks after lifting public health restrictions, Alberta’s COVID-19 case count remains low. Active cases did rise over the weekend, which hasn’t happened since May.

Variants of concern, including Delta, account for more than half the active cases in the province. The Delta variant is the dominant strain in the U.S. and the U.K., where cases and deaths are on the rise.

“It’s important that we all realize that we’re trying to protect each other,” said Nijssen-Jordan. “It is important that everyone gets vaccinated.”

Over 5,000,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta, according to provincial data.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dan Grummett

EDMONTON — A 45-year-old man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon after what police are calling a “road rage incident” between two drivers in northeast Edmonton.

An Edmonton Police Service spokesperson told CTV News Edmonton that an altercation between two men near Fort Road and 71 Street, around 12:20 p.m., resulted in the 45-year-old climbing onto the hood of the other man’s Dodge Caravan.

The 43-year-old driver of the Caravan reportedly drove off with the other man still on the hood, according to police.

“A short distance away from the original scene, officers observed the Caravan abruptly brake, resulting in the male on the hood landing on the ground,” the EPS spokesperson told CTV News Edmonton in a written statement.

Police say the driver of the Caravan remained on scene and did not report any injuries.

The incident is under investigation. 

EDMONTON — Alberta reported 69 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Tuesday.

The province has 606 infections and 98 patients in hospital, including 27 in intensive care.

More than 60 per cent of Alberta’s eligible population is fully immunized, but first doses remained at 74.8 on Tuesday.

Alberta has reported 232,875 cases and 2,318 deaths since the pandemic began.

CALGARY — A skull that was determined to be a prehistoric, Indigenous person received a burial June 26, over 40 years after it was discovered in the waters of the Old Man River west of the Monarch bridge at Hwy 3A in southern Alberta.

That happened in 1979, when someone found a skull and turned it over to the Fort Macleod RCMP detachment.

In October, 1979, with the assistance of the University of Alberta’s anthropology department, the skull was determined to be from a male over 60 years of age, and prehistoric – and therefore Indigenous – in origin.

Fort Macleod RCMP returned the skull to the finder for safekeeping, and that seemed to be the end of the story until 2017, when someone turned it in again to the local detachment.

In March 2021, members of the detachment sought out the council of Blackfoot elders in order to determine a way to give the skull a proper and respectful re-burial.

The ceremony involved wrapping the box containing the skull remains in a traditional blanket, followed by a smudging ceremony and internment.

Songs and prayers were sung for this ancestor of the Blackfoot people as he was buried in a small grave near the junction of the Old Man River and Belly River.

The grave is marked with a bleached white stone that says “Unknown Blackfoot Warrior”.

Kainai Spiritual Elder Joe Eagle Tail Feathers was consulted along with other spiritual Elders and Sundancers, and a traditional burial ceremony was held on June 26th, 2021 on the Blood Nation.

The burial was presided over by Elder Martin Eagle Child and several other Blackfoot Elders and Sundancers.

A military style salute was delivered by ex-Sgt D. Vernon Houle (Canadian Armed Forces) and Mr. Alvin Many Chief, Retired (Canadian Armed Forces / US Army Infantry).

Blood Tribe Chief of Police Kyle Melting Tallow, Sgt. Bryan Mucha and Const. Benjamin Stubbe of the Fort Macleod RCMP detachment were also present.

EDMONTON — Some residents in a central Edmonton neighbourhood worry changes planned by a developer won’t attract as many young families to the area as aging townhomes are replaced with new apartment units.

Regency Developments bought several 1950s townhouse properties in the North Glenora area a few years ago. It has slowly rezoned the properties with the city to allow four-storey apartment buildings.

Each building will have about 40 units with two bedrooms and a handful of one-bedroom suites.

Tanya French told CTV News Edmonton that she lived in her patio home in North Glenora as a tenant for her 12-year-old daughter’s entire life.

“I guess we sort of knew that these places wouldn’t last forever,” French said.

“I can see the point of wanting to get rid of them, but I don’t really understand the point of putting in more single people basically,” French added. “Cause it’s kind of more of a family neighbourhood.”

Raj Dhunna, Regency Developments chief operating officer, said many families live in its apartment buildings across the city. The developer has built more than 1,500 units in Edmonton.

For him, any new row housing unit development would come with much higher rent.

“The key element here is affordability,” Dhunna said. “We’re replacing two bedrooms with two bedrooms. The layouts are actually a lot more functional than a townhome is.”

Dhunna added that Regency Developments had always intended to demolish the townhouse units to build a new project. He said all the townhouse units have two bedrooms.

A map displaying the status of rezoning applications for apartment complexes in the North Glenora (CTV News Edmonton)

“These one, two-bedrooms that are coming in, we couldn’t afford them,” said Bobby-Ann Warrior, a resident of the area the new development in North Glenora is being built.

The nearby Coronation Elementary School nearly had to close a few years ago due to low attendance. Recently built townhouses designated as affordable housing have helped bring families to keep the school open.

In Warrior’s mind, the townhouse versus apartment debate is irrelevant, it is the cost that will drive families away from the area.

“They’re going to lose all those kids cause these parents just can’t,” she added. “They can’t do it.”

Regency Developments says the successfully rezoned site will start demolition this fall.

City council is scheduled to discuss what happens to the other sites in the area on Aug. 31.

Karen Burgess, a communications advisor for the city, said no official position on the project has been reached by the city. Their position will be made public after the report summarizing public consultation on the project is released ahead of the rezoning meeting in August.

“This rezoning is a developer-driven and not a City-driven development,” Burgess said in a statement. “Developers have the right to make rezoning applications and the City is obligated to process such applications, make a recommendation and then advance them to City Council for a decision.

“The City makes its recommendation on proposed rezonings by conducting a thorough planning analysis, which carefully weighs the application in the context of all policy and technical considerations.”