Housekeeper expected to get another chance at vaccine after being bumped

An Ottawa retirement home worker who was bumped from the COVID-19 vaccine queue by a manager's wife should get a second chance soon.

And the woman who jumped the queue at Stirling Park Retirement Community will not receive a second dose of vaccine until it is her turn in line, Ottawa Public Health says. That could mean starting over with a new first dose.

Mayor Jim Watson weighed in on the issue that has outraged many in Ottawa. “I think it is despicable and deplorable that someone would do that,” Watson said Wednesday during a news conference. He said he hoped the company running the retirement home “would take some pretty drastic action to deal with that individual to send the message that that is not acceptable behaviour.”

Ottawa Public Health has launched a quality review of Stirling Park Retirement Community after receiving a complaint about an ineligible person receiving vaccine. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said the issue had been reported to Ontario's Ministry of Health.

“We know the ministry is taking a look at making sure these kinds of situations don't happen.”

The retirement home company confirmed Wednesday that it was talking with Ottawa Public Health “to ensure our team member is vaccinated.”

That worker, a housekeeper, was among staff members who put up their hands for surplus Moderna vaccine last Sunday after residents of the home received their first doses. Under public health regulations, staff and essential caregivers can be vaccinated with any unused doses.

Later in the day, though, the housekeeper was told she wouldn't be vaccinated after all. The wife of a manager — who neither works nor volunteers at the home — received the vaccine instead, according to staff members who complained to their union.

The move left the housekeeper in tears.

The manager has been suspended pending investigation by Riverstone Retirement Communities, which runs the home.

Charlene Nero, director of the legal department at Laborers' International Union of North America Local 3000, which represents workers at the home, said Riverstone had asked Ottawa Public Health to vaccinate the housekeeper as soon as possible. It has also provided a list of other staff members at the home who haven't been vaccinated.

“We think what happened was deplorable, but we have to give credit where credit is due. This employer seems to be acknowledging something happened that shouldn't have and is trying to correct it,” Nero said.

The Ontario NDP, meanwhile, called for a public investigation into vaccine queue-jumping following the Ottawa incident and another one outside Toronto.

“I'm heartbroken and outraged for the front-line retirement home worker whose hopes of getting vaccinated were suddenly dashed because someone who allegedly had no business jumping the queue took their shot,” Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden said Wednesday.

The NDP wants the provincial government to launch an investigation “to get to the bottom of who may have improperly received a shot and where else this may have occurred.”

Harden said the internal investigation did not go far enough.

“In this case, there needs to be an immediate investigation with penalties assessed.”

At least one board member and the family of some managers at a Toronto-area nursing home are also accused of improperly taking vaccine doses for themselves.

The chair of that long-term care home — Villa Leonardo Gambin in Vaughan — said the surplus doses were given only after all available residents and staff received theirs.

Joseph Mancinelli, vice-president of the union LIUNA International, called the case an “abuse of power,” saying it was a “blatant act of disrespect to the men and women working day in and day out in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom remain vulnerable to infection.”

Mancinelli said additional measures “within the vaccine rollout framework” were needed to monitor distribution in long-term care and retirement homes “and address the ongoing concern of jumping the queue.”

Ottawa South Liberal MP John Fraser said the incident should serve as a red flag to the association that oversees retirement homes. It must send a clear message to its members, he said. “If it continues, the regulatory authority and the government should consider some sanctions — but I hope we don't get to that.”

That organization, the Ontario Retirement Communities Association, called the allegations of queue-jumping “troubling.”

“The seniors and staff in highrisk retirement communities have been identified as a priority to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for one simple reason: to save the lives of those most at risk,” chief executive Cathy Hecimovich said in a statement.

“Any attempt to circumvent the prioritization of those seniors and staff is unacceptable. As an association, we maintain a zero-tolerance for vaccination queue-jumping.”

Ministry of Health spokeswoman Alexandra Hilkene said the ministry had received a few reports of alleged queue-jumping and was working to make sure organizations understood who should be receiving the vaccines, including developing a website to educate the public and health-care providers about priority populations for vaccines.

“The vast majority of COVID -19 vaccines are being administered in the province according to the guidance and information provided by the province. These rare situations are unfortunate and unacceptable incidents.”

Residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, staff members and essential caregivers are among priority populations eligible for doses of vaccine in the first phase of vaccination in Ontario.

With delays from the two manufacturers, approved vaccines have been in short supply across Canada, something federal officials say should improve within weeks.