THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro says he’s got a clearer picture of how the COVID-19 vaccine will be rolled out across the country, after joining other Ontario mayors on a conference call with retired Gen. Rick Hillier.
However, Mauro said he’s still got plenty of questions he’d like answered.
Hillier, chosen by the province to handle vaccine distribution in Ontario, told the mayors the vaccine will be rolled out in a number of phases.
First in line will be front-line workers and vulnerable populations. Next up will be residents in lockdown or red zones and finally the vaccine will become available to the general public province-wide, likely in April or beyond.
Mauro said Hillier told the mayors he’s anticipating Ontario will receive an initial supply of about 2.4 million doses of the vaccine, 1.4 million from Pfizer, which on Wednesday was the first company to have its vaccine approved in Canada, and the remaining one million when Moderna gets approval for its vaccine.
The 2.4 million Phase 1 doses are over and above the 249,000 vaccines that are expected to be made available to Canada before the end of December.
Each person vaccinated requires two doses, about three weeks apart.
“He then described the second phase as being from April 2021 forward for six to nine months and then a third phase that he described as a steady stage,” Mauro said.
“The decision of who will get the vaccination first is a cabinet level decision.”
Thunder Bay at present is in the Orange-Restrict zone, and thus likely wouldn’t be a Phase 1 priority when it comes to general rollout.
Mauro said he’d like a little more clarification on where the city stands, but does suspect the city’s front-line worker and vulnerable populations will be among the first wave of recipients.
It gets a little murkier after that, he said.
“You would expect, based on what he said yesterday, that those populations in Thunder Bay would be included. Beyond that, the language around red zones and lockdown zones concerned me a little bit because we’re not there and what does that mean for potential rollout of the vaccine to the general population?” Mauro said.
“I’m going to bring this to our municipal emergency control group meeting tomorrow and we’ll have some discussions on what next steps may be in terms of representing the region and the city in ensuring that we’re not forgotten about as the vaccinations roll out.”
Ontario’s population is about 14.6 million. Pfizer's vaccine is not okayed for use in anyone younger than 16.
