WINNIPEG -- The province is cracking down on health-care workers who jumped the vaccine queue by providing false information.

A new emergency order under the Emergency Measures Act will allow Shared Health to investigate and confirm the eligibility of health-care workers who have received vaccinations.

If someone is found to have provided false information to get early access to the vaccine, the order allows this information to be disclosed to the individual’s employer, professional regulatory body, or to law enforcement.

The order is retroactive to the first day of vaccinations in the province, which was Dec. 12.

When vaccinations first started, the eligibility criteria was based on age and where a person worked. The vaccine was given to people working in critical care units, long-term care facilities, acute care facilities and COVID-19 immunization clinics.

The first members of the general public got vaccinated on March 1.

CURRENT ELIGIBILITY

As of March 5, people aged 87 or older or First Nations people aged 67 or older at the time of booking an appointment can get vaccinated.

The province is extending the time between first and second dose vaccinations to four months to allow more Manitobans to get their first dose.

To date, 84,937 doses of vaccine have been administered, including 55,090 first doses and 29,847 second doses.