The region’s medical officer of health had a smile on his face as he announced via Zoom the imminent arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccinations for Simcoe-Muskoka.
Dr. Charles Gardner said it was an “auspicious occasion.”
“This has come … none too soon, even though it’s remarkable that it is this soon,” said Gardner, who was joined by Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) president and CEO Janice Skot. “It’s well-timed from the point of view of being an early Christmas present … It’s giving people hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The region’s first doses of the COVID vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNTech, will arrive as early as next week to RVH, which is equipped with two freezers, each capable of storing 100,000 doses of the vaccine at minus-70 degrees Celsius.
The freezers arrived at RVH this week thanks to support of both the provincial and federal governments.
Skot said they wouldn’t be announcing the number of doses promised to RVH just yet.
“It’s always best to receive the package and then do the count,” she said.
The vaccines will be administered from a COVID-19 immunization clinic being set up at the RVH Testing and Assessment Centre on Sperling Drive (the former Barrie police headquarters). It will serve all of Simcoe County and Muskoka District.
“Boy, am I glad we kept that building,” said Lehman. “It’s been put to such good use.”
He said the vaccine’s arrival is now his favourite science-based Christmas present, moving the telescope he received when he was six years old to second place on that list.
Gardner said the vaccine roll-out will follow priorities established by the province through its pilot program. Since the Pfizer vaccine can’t be moved, the first to be inoculated in Simcoe-Muskoka will be those working at long-term care homes.
He said the health unit has already been in contact with homes in the region to ask for staff who are interested in early vaccination. They will, however, not be required to receive the vaccination.
The goal, noted Gardner, is to inoculate 40 per cent of staff in a home.
“It’s totally appropriate,” he said of the province’s prioritization of long-term care staff. “That’s where we’ve seen the most severe disease. Often — and not to anyone’s fault — it’s brought in through staff who are asymptomatic because, as members of the community, they are vulnerable to transmission. If we can protect them by vaccinating them, we can, by extension, protect the residents.”
The Pfizer vaccine has to be given in two doses 21 days apart.
“From a hospital perspective, this couldn’t have come soon enough,” said Skot. “We can see there is a light at (the end of) this very long, 10-month tunnel.”
RVH has been offering support to and receiving patients from other hospitals in the region, and Skot said they have also taken “over a dozen” patients from the GTA area.
“Those hospitals are so inundated … They really need our help,” she said.
All three officials stressed the need for residents of the region to keep their guard up and continue physical distancing, hand washing, wearing masks and limiting close contact to household members only.
“There’s a reality in hockey that the time where you’re most vulnerable to having a goal scored against you is the 30 seconds after you score a goal,” said Lehman. “This was a huge goal for the world and a wonderful moment for our community, but we are at great risk at the moment.”
Gardner encouraged people to “redouble their efforts” in preventing the spread of the virus.
