Ontario government officials revealed Tuesday that vaccine delays from European suppliers continue to frustrate the provincial vaccine plans but work is going ahead to provide first doses to long-term care home residents, high-risk retirement homes as well as to First Nations elder care homes.
The shortages for the vaccines have been dramatic.
At a technical briefing this week, Ministry of Health officials gave an update on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine:
"There were no allocations for last week, the week of Jan. 25. For this week, we received about 26,000 doses, a reduction of about 82 per cent. We're expecting in the neighbourhood of that next week as well. Again, a reduction of 81 per cent," said the official from the Ministry of Health.
"After that we go into two weeks, where the reduction is eight or nine per cent, so 130,000 doses in the week of Feb. 15 and 155,000 in the week of Feb. 22," added the ministry official.
She said there is no information of any vaccine deliveries beyond the week of Feb. 22 and Ontario is awaiting word from the federal government.
As for the Moderna vaccine, the expectation is that by the end of this week some 62,400 doses of Moderna will be arriving in Canada on Thursday, but it is not yet known when the feds will be able to distribute those doses perhaps by Friday, Saturday or Sunday, said the official.
Despite the shortages, the official said the plan now is to step up vaccinations of vulnerable populations with the vaccines Ontario has on hand.
"What we've done is accelerated the vaccination of residents in long-term care, high-risk retirement homes and First Nations elder care homes and to make sure that we're continuing to make sure that we administer second doses based on the availability of supply," she said.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are double-dose treatments, meaning that each vaccine must have a second dose given to each person within 18 to 42 days after the first dose, to be fully effective.
The province is expecting approximately 310,000 doses of vaccines to be delivered in the remaining weeks of February. Once sufficient doses are available, vaccinations will resume to provide first doses for staff and essential caregivers in settings with the most vulnerable populations, said a Ministry of Health news release.
"Despite limited supplies from the federal government, our government has taken decisive action to provide protection to our most vulnerable seniors as quickly as possible," said Health Minister Christine Elliott, Tuesday afternoon.
"Until everyone can receive the vaccine, it remains critical that Ontarians stay home and continue to follow public health measures to stop the spread and save lives."
Providing the vaccines to First Nations continues as a priority due to the fact that most of the remote communities do not have any formal health care facilities beyond a local nursing station. If a COVID-19 outbreak was to occur in a remote settlement, getting the victims to hospital could take several hours.
The health ministry said the plan to provide vaccines to remote communities is continuing.
"Ornge, Ontario's provider of air ambulance and critical care transport services, is providing the vaccine to community members 18 years of age or older in 31 Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) fly-in communities and Moosonee over the next three months," said the news release.
"This week, vaccination teams will be providing the Moderna vaccine in Neskantaga, Slate Falls, Muskrat Dam, Fort Severn, Kashechewan and Webequie," said the release.
