Ontario is expecting the first installment of up to 90,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to arrive in the province by Monday, with vaccinations to begin as early as Tuesday.**
In a briefing this afternoon, General Rick Hillier (retired), the head of Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force, provided information on the rollout, saying the focus in the beginning will be on those regions in the red and grey zones of the province’s pandemic severity ranking.
Noting that this will be the biggest vaccine rollout in Canada’s history, Hillier warned the public the complexity of the plan means there will be hiccups.
“There will be bumps … but we’ll be better on the other side,” he said.
Ontario has developed a three-phase implementation plan to receive, store and administer COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as possible, the province said today. Phase One begins Dec. 15 with a pilot project in Toronto and Ottawa, under which more than 2,500 health-care workers will be vaccinated under a pilot program. The initial 6,000 doses of vaccine will be split between these two cities.
This “vaccine readiness pilot” will be conducted alongside the Public Health Agency of Canada and Pfizer-BioNTech. At the University Health Network in Toronto and The Ottawa Hospital the vaccine will be administered to frontline health-care workers in hospitals and long-term care homes.
“This pilot will help inform the province's preparedness plan to receive larger vaccine quantities as it moves forward in Phase One, providing the opportunity to test the logistics of delivery, reconstitution of the vaccine, clinic management, and post-vaccine surveillance,” the province said in a news release.
Ontario said it made the most sense to choose Ottawa and Toronto for the pilot, as it will test the travel logistics since the two cities are in different regions of the province. The sites also have the equipment necessary to safely store the Pfizer vaccine at -70 degrees and the trained staff to handle the vaccine.
Beyond the pilot, the expected 90,000 doses will be delivered to up to 14 hospital sites in Grey-Lockdown and Red-Control zones in December, to vaccinate health care workers in hospitals, long-term care homes, retirement homes and other congregate settings caring for seniors.
Once the Moderna vaccine is approved, 35,000 to 85,000 doses will enable vaccinations to be expanded to long-term care homes in the Grey-Lockdown areas.
In early 2021, additional hospital sites will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Grey-Lockdown and Red-Control zones, with continued vaccination provided to health care workers and to long-term care home and retirement home residents.
By end of January, Ontario said it expects more than 20 hospitals across the province will be administering the Pfizer vaccine.
The province will shift to Phase Two once enough vaccine stockpile is available, which is expected later in the winter of 2021.
“During Phase Two, vaccinations will be administered to health care workers, as well as to residents in long-term care homes and retirement homes, to home care patients with chronic conditions and to additional First Nation communities and urban Indigenous populations, including Métis and Inuit individuals,” the province said.
Phase Three won’t begin until enough vaccine doses are available for every Ontarian who wishes to be immunized. While vaccines will not be mandated, during Phase Three, people will be strongly encouraged to get vaccinated.
**An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated 90,000 doses were expected Monday. That has since been clarified. The first installment will be 6,000 doses, split between Ottawa and Toronto.
