Ontario lays out vaccination priorities

Vulnerable seniors, their caregivers, and health-care workers will be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario, but the province is still a long way from being able to offer the shot to the broader public.

Premier Doug Ford laid out his government's three-part vaccination rollout plan on Monday as new details on the imminent arrival of the first doses were released by the federal government.

Ford said adults in Indigenous communities, residents of retirement homes, and recipients of chronic home health-care will also be priority groups, but it may be April before the shots are widely available to others.

“Our first shipments of a very small number of doses could arrive as early as next week,” the premier said. “But we're still very far, and I've got to repeat that, very far, from having the millions of vaccines we need for mass immunization.”

Retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading Ontario's vaccine task force, said the province will receive 2.4 million doses — allowing it to vaccinate 1.2 million people — during the first three months of 2021.

Hillier said the vaccine will be more broadly available to the public starting in April, during the second phase of the rollout, and it will take between six to nine months to distribute shots across the province.

The third and final phase of the plan would then see the vaccine available through places like pharmacies on a regular basis, he said.

The province may need to set up vaccination centres as it is still unsure of logistics surrounding the transportation of doses. That could mean it is not initially possible to ship some doses directly to long-term care homes, he added.