Frustration grows over vaccine rollout

It is terribly frustrating to see that Canada lags behind so many other countries in quickly vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19.

Even worse that Ontario lags behind so many other Canadian provinces in rolling out its program as the coronavirus caseload continues to go up.

Three weeks after the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Ontario, there are still only 19 vaccination sites across the province. Meanwhile, the province is being pressured to show more urgency and kick the program into a higher gear.

It has about 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and more recently arrived Moderna vaccines on hand but by its own count had only administered just less than 50,030 doses as of Tuesday. That’s about 7,607 vaccinations per day, on average.

These are extraordinary times. Last year, pharmaceutical companies developed and produced vaccines far more quickly than ever before. Public health agencies rushed to test and approve them so the needles could start quickly.

The rest of us largely stuck with the program — we kept isolating and masking, avoided crowds and stayed home when sick because the vaccines were on the way to start the slow return to normal.

To lose momentum now is disappointing. So is the fact there is still no indication Niagara might be receiving some of those vaccine doses any time soon, despite having a COVID-19 case count that has skyrocketed. Six of the past seven days have seen more than 100 new cases being reported.

On the seven days from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, 787 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Niagara, a 63 per cent increase over the 496 reported in the week before.

As of Monday, there were 219 long-term-care homes in Ontario in COVID-19 outbreak. Fifteen of them are here in Niagara and at least one of them, Oakwood Park Lodge in Niagara Falls, was among the largest LTC home outbreaks in the province, at its peak.

As of Sunday, there were 32 active outbreaks across Niagara. By Monday, that had grown to 43.

The entire Greater Niagara General Hospital is in outbreak, though its emergency department remains open and is COVID-FREE. A field hospital was opened this week in Burlington to ease the COVID-19 caseloads at hospitals from Niagara through Hamilton, Haldimand and Burlington. And there have been at least 153 deaths in Niagara related to COVID-19.

The urgency that went into rushing vaccines into production has to be matched by the province’s urgency to administer vaccines to more people.

Niagara Region’s public health department and Niagara Health are ready to roll. An area of St. Catharines hospital has been designated as a vaccination site, and acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji has said there is a plan to vaccinate front-line health-care workers and seniors in long-term care, who would need the vaccines brought to them. All that’s missing, of course, is the vaccine. Hospitals are filling up. On Monday, Niagara Health had 92 COVID-19 patients in its care and at last count at least 34 staff members from across the system were isolating after testing positive.

Staffing levels are being strained all through Ontario’s health-care system.

Meanwhile, most of the outbreaks at long-termcare homes started when a staff member inadvertently introduced the virus into the building. Vaccinating them quickly is vital for keeping our vulnerable seniors healthy.

The government needs to find a way, now, to get those vaccines into the community more quickly.