THUNDER BAY --- A Thunder Bay MPP says the fact Thunder Bay is not part of the province's pharmacy vaccine pilot program is unconscionable.
The NDP's Judith Monteith-Farrell (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) on Wednesday said the city it desperate for help. Thunder Bay has 412 active COVID-19 cases and has seen seven people die from complications of the virus in the first 10 days of March.
"We are one of the hardest-hit regions in all of Canada. We need vaccines, and we need a co-ordinated plan to get these vaccines into the arms of the people in the north," Monteith-Farrell tweeted.
The province on Wednesday revealed more than 325 pharmacies on March 12 will begin administering the AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine to Ontarians age 60 to 64 in three public health regions: Toronto, Windsor-Essex, and Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford hailed the news at a media conference.
"We are about to achieve a major milestone in our battle against COVID-19, by the end of the day we expect to reach the one million mark for doses administered and continue to lead the country in vaccinations completed," Ford said.
"But we are just ramping up and mobilizing even more members of Team Ontario in our pharmacies and primary care settings. We have a plan to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible in order to keep people safe and we will do that as long as we have a steady supply from the federal government."
The province said pharmacies in other parts of the Ontario will be brought on board as vaccine supply increase.
Ontario has received 194,500 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine
