The Northwestern Health Unit admits it doesn’t know when or how much of the COVID-19 vaccine it will be getting next.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kit Young Hoon says it could be a couple of more months before mass vaccination clinics can operate.
“More vaccines are coming to the region but still relatively small amounts. So when we’re thinking about mass immunization clinics, it likely won’t be until April or until the end of March at the earliest,” says Dr. Young Hoon.
“There may potentially be large amounts of vaccine. The province has indicated, however, that these numbers can’t be confirmed until they actually see some type of confirmation on their end. So, it’s really hard to speak to numbers of vaccine until they get a clear amount from the higher level.”
Dr. Young Hoon says health officials will be working with local municipalities to set up mass vaccination clinics.
Chief Administrator Officer with the town of Fort Frances Doug Brown says they have asked about local buildings.
“We provided several buildings that could be used. There’s some that are provincially owned, for example, the old tourist information centre.,” says Brown.
Next phase of the vaccine rollout is to include older adults, people living in high risk settings and frontline essential workers like teachers and first responders.
(With Files From Sarah McCarthy/CKDR and Tim Davidson/89.5 The Lake)