The Government of Ontario announced additional hospital delivery sites for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine earlier today, Friday, December 18, 2020. Halton Healthcare has been selected as one of the sites and plans are underway to establish a COVID-19 vaccination centre.
The centre will be established at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) for the region of Halton, receiving and distributing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that began its rollout across Ontario and Canada this week.
"We are committed to supporting the Ministry of Health as they execute the largest immunization rollout in a generation," said Denise Hardenne, President and CEO, Halton Healthcare. "We are working closely with the provincial government, Halton Region Public Health and our local healthcare partners to operationalize the centre in a safe and secure manner."
Due to the current limited supply, Ontario said its focus is "getting vaccines to the most vulnerable populations." Halton Healthcare says they are working with Halton Region Public Health to prioritize the use of the vaccine for health care workers and essential long-term care home caregivers in the region and those working in high risk retirement homes (ie. memory care provision).
The doses will be administered to health care workers in high-risk settings first, such as long-term care homes and hospitals, followed by the other priority populations Ontario has identified.
"This is an important step in our collective response to stopping the spread of COVID-19,” said Halton Region Chair, Gary Carr. “Since March, health care workers have been on the frontline of this fight, making significant sacrifices in their own lives to help others."
"I am in support," Carr continues, "of the Province’s plan to make sure that these heroes are front of the line for the first doses of this monumental vaccine. I would also like to thank the staff at Halton Healthcare and Halton Region Public Health for their all of their efforts in planning this first phase."
While this latest announcement is great news for our community and province, Halton Region Public Health is reminding everyone that following all other public health measures remains critical.
"While this is a new light at the end of the tunnel, we cannot let our guards down," said Halton Region Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hamidah Meghani.
"No matter where you live, please continue to stay home as much possible, only go out for essential reasons and do not gather with anyone who does not live with you – indoors or outdoors. These are early days for this vaccine, and we have a long road ahead to achieving herd immunity and understanding how it protects others."
Provincial government continues to lead the plan for vaccine distribution across Ontario. For information and emerging details on vaccine distribution timelines, priority regions and populations, please visit Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine webpage. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccine, including safety, please visit halton.ca/COVID19.
