By Cecilia Nasmith
The Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit has received its first allotment of COVID-19 vaccine, and is rolling out its plan to start this week on vaccinating residents of local long-term-care homes with the 700 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
“This is the day we have been waiting for,” said Dr. Ian Gemmill, Acting Medical Officer of Health for the HKPR District Health Unit.
“We have been working with our local hospital partners and our long-term-care and retirement homes to work out the logistics of getting this vaccine into as many arms as quickly as possible.”
The vaccine – termed a “magic bullet” by Dr. Gemmill at last week's health-unit media scrum – was delivered to Ross Memorial, which agreed to receive and store it. From there, the health unit will deliver the doses to area long-term-care homes throughout the health-unit region. There, it is expected that 100 to 150 vaccinations will take place each day.
“Planning for this vaccine has been a tremendous effort, involving all of our partners working with our staff, and we appreciate everyone’s support as we roll out the vaccine,” Dr. Gemmill said.
Residents of Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, Hope Street Terrace in Port Hope and Maplewood Long-Term Care Home in Brighton are among the first group to be vaccinated. Additional vaccination clinics will take place in the other long-term-care homes in the area over the course of the next couple of weeks.
The announcement said more doses may be received next week - and advised that the province has revised its goal and is now aiming to have all residents of long-term-care and retirement homes vaccinated by Feb. 5.
“Unfortunately, we know that what we have received will not ensure that all of our long-term-care residents are vaccinated with this week’s supply,” Dr. Gemmill said.
“We have had to determine priorities about which LTCH gets the vaccine first, and we are hopeful that we will soon receive more vaccine so we can complete the immunization of residents and staff of both our long-term care homes and retirement homes.”
The announcement noted that Pfizer vaccines had been expected but, after the company's delivery delay, the health unit delivery was changed to Moderna. The vaccine comes packaged in 10-dose units which, once opened, must be used up (as it cannot be refrigerated or stored again).
There are an estimated 1,600 residents living in area long-term-care homes and more than 2,000 staff working at these sites..
