COVID-19 vaccine rollout to Hamilton healthcare workers has been halted
- Michael Kras
- 28 Jan 2021
As Ontario continues to deal with supply issues for the COVID-19 vaccine, the provincial government has instructed Hamilton public health to halt the administering of doses to anyone who isn’t a resident of a long-term care facility or higher risk retirement home, or due for the second of their two required doses.
As a result, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) has had to temporarily shutter their COVID-19 vaccine clinic, after already reducing its daily appointments from nearly 1,000 per day to around 300 instead to accommodate the shortages.
As of Wednesday, Hamilton healthcare workers had 135 COVID-19 patients in their care; though, it’s hopeful that hospitalizations will start to decline as new local cases trend downwards.
"On orders from the province, Hamilton Public Health and local hospitals have stopped giving out first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone except residents of long-term care homes and high-risk retirement homes.'
DOUG FORD is a failure. #OnPoli https://t.co/eotZNDhcVZ
— Matthew Green 🍊📈✊🏾 (@MatthewGreenNDP) January 28, 2021
The order to halt vaccines comes as a result of a shortage of doses due to a slowdown in manufacturing and distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to numerous countries including Canada, occurring because of the pharmaceutical company’s efforts to scale up their European manufacturing facility.
The pause on vaccine rollout is only temporary, however, and Pfizer has said that they should be caught up and back on course by the end of March, with the Canadian government assuring the public that this speed-bump should have no significant impact on the country’s vaccine distribution plans and timelines.
That said, the timelines for some second doses are being stretched out to as much as 42 days following the first dose, except for residents of retirement homes and long-term care facilties, who are still expected to receive their second doses on schedule.
No word yet on when the HHS COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic is expected to reopen.
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