There have been over 368,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine given out in Alberta so far.

The Chief Medical Officer of Health explained in her COVID-19 update that on Monday, March 15, the province began Phase 2A of the vaccine program. That includes anyone born in 1956 or earlier and First Nations, Metis or Inuit people born before or during 1971. Staff or residents of any licensed senior supportive living facilities not included in Phase 1 are also eligible for the vaccine.

As of Monday, over 8,000 Albertans have booked appointments through AHS and thousands more had booked through participating pharmacies.

Bookings for the next age cohort of vaccines will go live at 10 a.m.

Hinshaw also spoke about Phase 2B and 2C of the vaccine rollout.

In Phase 2B, which will begin once Phase 2A is complete, the vaccine will be offered to Albertans with severe underlying conditions.

Hinshaw explained that because the province has a limited supply of vaccines, they will be focusing on people who are most at risk of severe outcomes.

The province has posted a list of underlying health conditions that are eligible to receive the vaccine.

She noted that all of the conditions are associated with a higher risk of death or hospitalizations even in younger age groups when comparing their risks to those for people age 50 to 64 with no underlying conditions.

Those include people with chronic heart disease, those who have received an organ, bone marrow, or stem cell transplant, those diagnosed or treated for cancer in the past year, diabetes requiring insulin or other medication to control or those with obesity, or chronic liver, lung or kidney disease.

Individuals with a severe learning disability, developmental delay or severe intramuscular condition will also be able to receive the vaccine. Anyone currently pregnant will also be able to.

A list of conditions for Phase 2B can be found at Alberta.ca. Individuals will not require a doctor's note to get the vaccine. Once the phase starts, all eligible individuals will be able to book appointments at pharmacies right away, and AHS will open bookings in stages based on the year of birth.

Phase 2C is expected to start sometime in April. At that time the vaccine will be available for all health care workers who provide direct, in-person patient care or provide immunization services. Those include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists as well as office and support staff providing direct services to patients.

Front line workers like corrections officers and police and staff at meatpacking plants will also be eligible under Phase 2C. About 400,000 people will be able to book appointments under Phase 2C.

Watch the full update here: