THUNDER BAY – Dr. Janet DeMille says news of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine being approved by Health Canada is reason for celebration.
It’s just not time for the public to let down its collective guard.
“It’s really great that it has been approved, and now we can start the roll-out,” DeMille said. “I think we still have to take a very measure approach to this. We’re going to see the vaccine come ... but it is going to take a while to roll out an immunization program and roll out the vaccine and get adequate quantities to really make difference.”
Initial talks have been held about that roll-out with senior levels of government, but they haven’t advanced beyond the preliminary stage.
It’s just too soon, DeMille said.
However, it appears front-line workers and long-term care residents will be first in the queue, followed by those in hot zones and then the general public, according to Mayor Bill Mauro, who spoke with the province’s vaccine roll-out chief, retired Gen. Rick Hillier.
DeMille said it won’t be easily accomplished and certainly won’t happen overnight.
“The delivery of the vaccine across the country is a really complicated, complex process,” DeMille said. “The different types of vaccines, the size of the country, the different areas and the allotment the different provinces are going to get – and then there’s the roll-out of the vaccines within each province.”
DeMille said there are still plenty of questions that need answers.
The Pfizer vaccine, for example, will require special storage capabilities, most notably the requirement to keep it at -70 C or below. The Moderna vaccine requires a more modest -20 C temperature.
“Even the logistics of the storage of the vaccines is really important. And then transportation while maintaining that is going to be a very significant logistical issue,” DeMille said.
“Certainly many people, both federally and provincially are involved in managing those logistics.”
For now, caution is the best prevention method in the Thunder Bay District.
The city and region are far from being out of the danger zone, DeMille saying it’s clear community spread is happening in Thunder Bay. However, she noted only 10 per cent of cases are currently being contracted through unknown sources, which is quite low, she said.
It is a warning sign.
“This means the virus certainly can be anywhere and appear anywhere and appear very quickly. We’re not seeing that exponential increase, but we are seeing an increase,” DeMille said. “That’s really important. We can’t let that get out of hand.
There are currently 118 active cases in Thunder Bay, after the Thunder Bay District Health Unit announced an additional 14 cases on Wednesday, bringing the district’s total to an even 400 since the pandemic began.
Of those, 73 can be traced to an outbreak at Southbridge Roseview nursing home, where four of the region’s six deaths have been recorded, including another one on Wednesday.
“We need to control it, and that is us as individuals, our families, our workplaces and any other place we might go to,” DeMille said.
“We’re at a low number, but it is going up, and that’s concerning,” DeMille said. “So what we really need to do is stop outbreaks from happening. And that means in every workplace, in every organization, in every long-term care and in every hospital really has to pull out all the stops, put every measure in place to prevent that virus from spreading in those facilities.”
