The City of Portage la Prairie is hoping to achieve an ambitious goal with its vaccination rates.

Councillor Brent Budz has been impressed by the city's vaccination rates, but says Portage la Prairie can do better.

"The city does have a goal of the goal of having the highest rate of community vaccinations per capita in the province. Just a reminder, we do hear a lot of the influence of COVID-19 in our communities, what that means to us, and the desire to get back to normal," says Budz. It really will be around vaccination rates. The more vaccination that goes on in Portage will increase the percentages and get things back to normal."

Province-wide, 67.5 per cent of Manitobans aged 18 and up have received the shot, while 64.20 per cent of Manitobans have been vaccinated. In Portage, 61.0 per cent of residents have been inoculated, while 51.8 per cent of rural Portagers have got the jab.

"The Urban Indigenous Vaccination, walk-ins are available there, and the Herman Prior pop-up clinics. They're distributing the eligibility criteria on the website," says Budz. "I want to re-iterate. Please go out and get vaccinated so we can all move forward in the Province of Manitoba and the City of Portage la Prairie."

The Herman Prior Activity Centre is hosting pop-up clinics on June 10th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th and 25, from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.