Horwath calls for penalties to curb queue jumping
Clearer rules urged in vaccine rollout, with `accountability' for violations
There should be consequences, including fines, for people who jump the line to get vaccinated, says Ontario Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath.
At a news conference Thursday, Horwath also called on the province to provide clearer rules and a better plan for distributing leftover doses of COVID -19. She made the comments after a case of queue jumping at an Ottawa retirement home made headlines this week.
“These stories are really hard to take when we know that there are so many people out there who really deserve to be going first in terms of the vaccine,” she said.
“We need to make clear exactly what the process is and what the ramifications are. The government needs to get their head around how do we put in place some kind of accountability system (for) folks who are going to flout the rules and try to butt in line for vaccinations.”
As vaccine rollout ramps up in the coming weeks, she said, clear guidelines will be important to avoid more cases of queue jumping.
The NDP wants to see a strategy to prevent queue jumping that includes:
Mandating who can receive leftover doses;
Requiring vaccination teams to have a plan for leftover doses;
Investigations with consequences for people who jump the line;
A plan to divide boxes of vaccine doses into smaller batches to reduce the number of leftovers. That technique, used in Israel, has been recommended by the province's Science Table.
“We think these things could address the problems we are seeing with queue jumping and give people hope that the vaccines are actually going to go to the people who need them most first, and these scofflaws and selfish people are going to be put in their place. We all need to be in this together.”
Ottawa Public Health is conducting a quality review with the director of care at Stirling Park Retirement Community in Ottawa after allegations that the general manager's wife was given a surplus dose of Moderna vaccine last weekend, bumping a front-line worker off the list. The manager has been suspended while the company that runs the home investigates.
We need to make clear exactly what … the ramifications are.
OPH will vaccinate that worker, a housekeeper, and others who haven't been vaccinated. Ottawa Public Health also says people who jump the queue to improperly get vaccinated are not eligible for a second dose of the vaccine “until it is their turn, based on a provincial priority framework.” The Ministry of Health will determine if those people get a new first dose of vaccine.
A spokesperson for the ministry says it “continues to educate and inform partners on who should be receiving the limited supply of vaccines that we have so far received.”
If a crime has been committed, such as the unauthorized removal of vaccines, the police should be called.
The spokesperson said cases of alleged queue jumping have been rare.
While vaccines are in high demand and short supply, the accounts of alleged queue jumping for COVID-19 vaccinations are growing.
There have been several complaints of care homes giving doses designated for vulnerable residents and frontline caregivers to the family of managers and owners.
After whistleblower accounts of inappropriate COVID-19 vaccinations at Ontario retirement and nursing homes, opposition politicians are calling for a public probe into misuse, rules on who can get a jab, and punishment for vaccination abusers.
The manager of an Ottawa retirement home has been suspended after allegations his wife bumped a housekeeper at the home out of the vaccine queue last weekend.
The company operating Stirling Park Retirement Community confirmed it is investigating “after being made aware of concerns with regard to recent vaccination efforts at one of our communities,” and said the company takes the matter seriously.
In Brantford, the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority is investigating a complaint that the owner of a retirement home and his wife were vaccinated, along with family members of the home's manager. A worker at Amber Lea Place told the Brantford Expositor frontline workers were upset when family and an unknown person were given vaccinations at the start of the day.
“They were not getting leftover vaccine because they were already there at 11 a.m. when we were told to come in. And they don't volunteer there,” the worker said.
Calls and requests for comment from the home were not responded to prior to deadline.
In Woodbridge, a union grievance has been filed after a nurse was allegedly told to give vaccines to ineligible people and to classify them as caregivers. The chair of the home's board of directors confirmed the vaccines went to some who don't work or live at the home, including himself.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Ontario's official opposition, fears there have been additional incidents like this.
“We've heard allegations of folks actually taking vials out of the facility, out of longterm care homes, for personal use,” Horwath, leader of Ontario's official opposition, said Thursday.
“We've heard some pretty disturbing stories about people who are queue-jumping, folks who are deciding that it's up to them to decide that they get to have a vaccine before anybody else in these vulnerable groups.”
Horwath said the province should issue clear rules on exactly who is eligible for vaccination, and when and how leftover doses during a vaccination clinic should be used. She also calls on vaccination teams to be better prepared with more accurate vaccine counts to reduce the need to use up unused doses.
“It's the most vulnerable that need to be first in line for the vaccine, and to see folks who are flouting all of that and trying to jump in ahead is pretty troubling.”
Sara Singh, the NDP critic for long term care, sent an open letter to retired general Rick Hillier, chairman of Ontario's vaccine distribution task force, to review the province's vaccine rollout.
“I am calling on you to ensure a complete and public investigation of who received the vaccine from these homes and whether other homes have been distributing the vaccine to board members, or executive staff and their friends and families,” the letter says. “I am calling on you to communicate with all organizations that are to receive the vaccine on the proper distribution of all of the doses, including instructions on who is to be first in line to receive any additional doses available.”
Ontario's Ministry of Health does not discount reports of abuse but said incidents are rare. “The vast majority of COVID-19 vaccines are being administered in the province according to the guidance and information provided by the province. Of the over 412,000 doses administered, we have only received a handful of reports of alleged queue-jumping in the province,” said David Jensen, a ministry spokesman.
“These rare situations are unfortunate and unacceptable incidents.”
Public health units are working with local health system partners to administer the vaccine. Those providing the actual immunizations are responsible to confirm eligibility based on provincial guidelines, he said. “If anyone has concerns that a crime has been committed, such as the unauthorized removal of vaccines, local police should be notified.”
Jensen said vaccine supply will eventually increase to the point where everyone can have one.
Hillier faced criticism in December when vaccine distribution was put on hold for the holidays, and for the slow pace of vaccinations.
Hillier earlier said the speed of distribution is linked to vaccine supply through the federal government, which has also had significant problems.
Last month, a casino executive and his wife made headlines around the world after allegedly travelling by private plane from Vancouver to a remote Yukon community and posing as visiting workers to receive COVID-19 vaccination at a mobile clinic.