By Cecilia Nasmith
Some 2,800 people aged 80 and over are already signed up for the mass vaccination clinic that begins Tuesday at Cobourg Community Centre.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited the centre Monday as it awaited its first patient and called the organizers a bunch of champions and an example to communities everywhere with the partnership behind it - health-care providers, first responders, community-care agencies and more than 300 volunteers.
“I want to thank the incredible team here for making this possible,” Ford said.
“I travel around the province, and there's great communities all over, but Northumberland pulls together like I have never seen before.”
One thing that impressed him was that huge corps of volunteers who came together within days of the call going out.
“This was an ice rink last week, and look at the transformation. And something close to my heart is the Rotary Club,” he added, listing another partner.
“Anyone who knows Rotary knows the Cobourg Rotary stands out among many in Ontario.
“This is what I mean when I talk about Team Ontario. Across the province, more than 150 mass-vaccination clinics like this one will be opening this month. We have the capacity to do approximately 4.8-million vaccines right now, but we have the supply for about 1.4-million.
“This site alone can administer 800 vaccines a day.”
Ford spoke on the day his government launched the province-wide vaccination registration system that had already booked 45,000 on-line. For those who opt to register by phone at 1-888-999-6488, he said, they are taking calls at the rate of approximately 375 people a minute.
“From this morning alone, tens of thousands more Ontarians can say they have an appointment, and this is great news.”
Introduced as an all-star MPP, David Piccini (Northumberland-Peterborough South) offered his own thanks to the remarkable team standing on the former ice surface of the Bowl at the CCC.
“This wouldn't be possible without the dedication and work of many, many community partners. Here in Cobourg and across Northumberland-Peterborough South, this is how we operate.
“They say many hands make light work. This is on full display across our great province, and especially right here in Northumberland County.”
“Arenas don't just become mass vaccination sites because we wish them to,” he added, with praise for several other partners.
One was certain members of the business community – including Rona, Sabic and Stalwood Homes – who set up the clinic's physical infrastructure and barriers.
Then there is Community Care Northumberland, offering transportation to these appointments in cases where the recipient might not otherwise have been able to get there.
And don't forget the children of Nancy Bruce's day-care, whose artwork of things we want to get back to after the pandemic passes will surely lift spirits.
“People from all walks of life came together to make it happen,” Piccini said - “people who embrace a common purpose that is far bigger than their differences and come together to support an effort the likes of which we have not seen in decades.”
Cobourg Mayor John Henderson recalled how the initial weeks of COVID became months and then became a year – a time of PPE challenges, lockdowns, evolving safety protocols and community messaging, testing, all leading up to the day they could welcome people for vaccinations at the CCC.
“I stand before you in one of my proudest moments as mayor of the Town of Cobourg,” Henderson declared.
“And I stand before you humbled by the continued strength of our community as shown, and in the support of the Ontario government's leadership and execution of its vaccine-distribution plan,” he said.
“I also applaud the effort of our local health unit, our hospital staff, the County of Northumberland and Town of Cobourg staff as they pivoted at a moment's notice to make all this happen and possible.”
Though the premier had expressed confidence in the new on-line and telephone vaccination portals, questions that came in from news-media representatives put a shadow on the sunny face he had put on the effort.
A CHCH reporter described calls from viewers who gave the portal a try and got a message that said, “The form has been tampered with.”
“People are spending hours on the phone for technical help,” he added.
“It's generally perceived this isn't going well.”
“I respectfully disagree,” Ford said - “so far this morning, 45,000 people were able to figure it out.”
The premier added that they'd enlisted the help of such corporate giants as IBM and Amazon to help test the site.
Another complaint came in from a CTV reporter who was also hearing from people getting the “tampered-with” message.
“I have spoken with someone from Carleton Place who spent one and a half hours on-line, did the right things, waited, and was just rejected,” he stated.
“I can tell you, as soon as I leave this place, who I am calling – I'm calling our IT guys,” Ford said.
“They are sending me the message it's going relatively well. You're telling me different. I'm going to jump on this. We will iron it out immediately, I can promise you that.”
That was good news to the CP24 reporter, who said viewers are “spending hours on hold and (are) then told to call their local public health unit, and sometimes told they need an invitation code.”
The CTV reporter also pointed out that other provinces are now vaccinating people well younger than the 80-and-up age group now targeted in Ontario, Ford admitted part of this was the decision to go ahead and devote precious vaccine to a second dose for the province's long-term-care population. It was a good decision, he said, because of the steep decline in mortality from that sector.
And in answer to another question, he also expressed the hope that the increased vaccine supply being promised may result in second doses sooner than originally hoped
“The Federal government is trying, they are doing their best. Everyone – the municipalities are phenomenal. Everyone's pitching in,” Ford added.
“What's really more amazing – it's the communities that have pulled together.”
Reiterating the feat accomplished in Cobourg in such a short time, he added, “I have never seen a community like it.
“They are a bunch of champions here.”
