North Shore care center residents receive COVID-19 vaccine

Residents of the North Shore Health Care Center in Grand Marais received vaccinations for COVID-19 this week. The first shots were administered Tuesday, Dec. 29. A total of 22 residents at the Care Center were vaccinated Tuesday and the remaining residents in the facility will be vaccinated before Dec. 31, according to Kimber Wraalstad, the administrator at the local healthcare facility.

Care Center residents received the Moderna vaccine. This follows news from last week that nearly 100 healthcare workers at Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and North Shore Health received the Pfizer vaccine for the new coronavirus.

In related news, this week the Minnesota Veterans Home in Silver Bay will begin to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents and staff.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, an estimated 38,000 Minnesotans have received a COVID-19 vaccine since the shots first arrived to the state in mid-December.

As 2020 enters its final days, there remains no exact timeline for distribution of the vaccine to essential workers or the general public in Minnesota.