THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay’s city council is protesting a planned reduction in COVID-19 vaccines sent to the area as the province pivots more supply to harder-hit hot spots.
Council passed a resolution Monday night calling the provincial plans “concerning” and advocating for distribution of vaccine supply “predicated on potential risk to communities" rather than current COVID-19 indicators.
Mayor Bill Mauro said health authorities had confirmed the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and other health units with fewer cases would begin receiving reduced supply. Medical officer of health Dr. Janet DeMille said last week the health unit was expecting a reduction of around 800 shots by this week.
Mauro, who put forward the motion, acknowledge the issue was “touchy” given severe hospitalization and ICU surges in the south of the province, but argued that it was inconsistent for the provincial government to put the Thunder Bay District under lockdown while reducing its vaccine supply.
“To me it just doesn’t make sense,” he told councillors. “If you’re going to include us in a pan-provincial lockdown, if our businesses still have to remain closed, if our outdoor recreation amenities are affected like the rest of the province, how do you then say to us, but you’re not going to get as much vaccine?”
He allowed that Thunder Bay’s COVID-19 indicators were vastly improved, and that the province had sent additional vaccine supply to the city when it faced its own surge of cases and hospitalizations in February and March, and had the province’s highest COVID-19 incidence rate for several weeks.
That was an argument to return to the regional system of public health restrictions, he said.
“If we were still going under the colour-coded system, we wouldn’t be grey, we might not even be red, we might be orange now, which would mean we’d be able to have much of our small businesses open, outdoor recreation would be able to be open.”
The Middlesex-London Health Unit is expecting its vaccine supply to dip by as much as 25 per cent from usual levels due to the diversion of vaccines to hot spots, the London Free Press reported Monday. However, its medical officer of health said the move to send vaccines to harder-hit areas was the right call from a public health perspective.
Tbnewswatch has asked the Thunder Bay District Health Unit for comment.
The resolution passed unanimously Monday, with Coun. Trevor Giertuga absent.
