THUNDER BAY - The leader of the opposition in Ontario is calling on the Ford government to accelerate vaccinations in long-term care homes across the province.
NDP leader Andrea Horwath held a media conference on Wednesday where she called the provincial government to ‘get the game in action.’
“What we are saying to the premier today is he has to pull out all the stops. He has to get the game in action,” Horwath said. “It’s unbelievable we have no urgency whatsoever from this government yet again.”
There are 216 long-term care homes in Ontario currently experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 and in the last 24 hours 47 residents have died.
“Can you imagine the torment of knowing that someone in your mom’s long-term care home has COVID-19, knowing that there’s a vaccine sitting in a freezer right now that could keep her safe, but being told that it’ll be two weeks, or maybe much, much longer, before she’ll get her shot?” Horwath said.
Horwath criticized the government’s plan to give the first dose of the vaccine to 55,000 long-term care residents in the next two weeks, despite receiving 400,000 in January.
The vaccinations will also focus on homes in four regions hardest hit by COVID-19, though there are 138 homes experiencing an outbreak outside of those regions.
“That’s the reality we are facing. At the same time, we know there are tens of thousands of vaccines sitting in freezers waiting to be utilized to inoculate people against this deadly disease,” Horwath said.
“There are 138 homes not in the priority area that Doug Ford has identified. His idea of 55,000 vaccines in 15 days is just not good enough. They have to step it up. They have to step up the pace.”
Long-term care staff in Thunder Bay started receiving vaccinations late in December and more than 600 people have been inoculated. The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre anticipates receiving additional doses in mid-January.
“There are thousands upon thousands of vaccines sitting in freezers,” Horwath said. “The government has been so anemic in its distribution of those vaccines that people are left wondering if it’s going to be weeks or months before those vaccines arrive in their long-term care homes, whether that’s in Sudbury or any other part of the north or Niagara.”
“This government has failed miserably. The pace has to be picked up. The army of people wanting to and willing to get engaged in the vaccination process like the pharmacists, the family doctors, people in public health, it’s unbelievable this government is not showing the urgency required to save lives.”
Premier Doug Ford said during a media conference Wednesday afternoon that there are no vaccines sitting in freezers and that the province is running out of vaccines.
The province expects to run out of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the week and doses of the Moderna vaccine have been allocated for long-term care facilities in the regions of Peel, York, Windsor, and Toronto.
"We don’t know what we are getting a month down the road. We get 24 hours notice. We will be moving into other regions in Ontario and get the residents and the workers vaccinated immediately," Ford said.
"The quicker we get the vaccine into people’s arm, the quicker we can move forward. We have to continue practicing social distancing, washing out hands, and making sure when possible, to stay at home. But even more important, the more vaccines we have, the quicker we can get them into people’s arms."
An outbreak of COVID-19 at the Southbridge Roseview Manor long-term care home in Thunder Bay has claimed the lives of 20 residents as of Wednesday.