The frustration over the provincial rollout of the vaccine against COVID-19 continues to grow in Niagara's health care sector.
In an open letter from NH's Medical Advisory Committee, MAC, the board is calling on 'community and leaders' to advocate for more doses of the Pfizer vaccine and for the Moderna vaccine to be deployed in the region, which currently is battling increasing pressure under the pandemic.
'We are not far from our system being overwhelmed,' said the letter.
It was on Tuesday that the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Niagara after public health officials had pushed for the delivery to come to the region for weeks while growing increasingly impatient with the provincial government's decisions to bypass Niagara.
'It has been particularly disheartening for us in Niagara to see that we are not being treated equitably with other areas in the province. There are 32 long-term care homes in Niagara and not one healthcare worker, not one resident received the vaccine prior to today. In contrast, Windsor has 19 long-term care homes and has already vaccinated all of them. The same is true for York Region's 28 homes,' the committee wrote.
In addition, over 220 workers in Niagara Health alone have tested positive and another 200 are in self-isolation for potential exposure, the statement continued.
On Wednesday morning, the first healthcare worker received the Pfizer vaccine, which will also will be administered to residents in long-term care homes in the next few weeks.
On Wednesday, Niagara recorded close to 200 new cases of COVID.
Over 200 deaths have now been recorded in patients who have contracted the virus.
