THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences is reworking its roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine as supplies begin to dwindle over the next few weeks.
Pfizer, who is supplying vaccines to Canada, plans to close its European manufacturing facility briefly to retool it to ramp up production, but will stop shipping the vaccine to Canada and Europe during the pause.
In a release issued on Monday night, the hospital, which is in charge of distributing the Pfizer vaccine, will only provide first-dose vaccinations to long-term care residents in the coming weeks, with the goal of having everyone inoculated by Feb. 5, pending availability of the vaccine.
Long-term care residents are expected to get their second dose within a 21- to 27-day window. All other groups will be under the directive to expand the allowable second dose time period to up to 42 days.
The hospital said the plan to vaccinate northern, remote First Nations will also continue during the slowdown of supply.
The public is being asked to be patient.
“Clearly, given these unplanned changes in vaccine availability, many scheduled appointments will need to be rescheduled. People who had appointments will be contacted directly.”
More than 2,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Thunder Bay, including 100 per cent of long-term care residents who requested it. About half of long-term care staff have been vaccinated too, some already having been given their second dose.
The hospital did not offer up senior staff for interviews for this story.
