Ontario poised to ramp up COVID vaccinations

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The Doug Ford government needs to “pick up the pace” when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and weed out queue-jumpers, insists NDP MPP Sara Singh.

“Too many vulnerable people are still waiting for their vaccine as a result of this government’s slow roll-out,” Singh said in a statement Monday.

“Retirement home residents, vulnerable seniors — who may even live with essential workers — frontline workers, including community health-care teams and many others, still haven’t been given a clue when their first shot might be coming or even which priority group they’re in.”

The Justin Trudeau government, not the provinces, is responsible for securing vaccine supply.

However, there have been several reports of people — health-care facility manager, friend or family member — getting the vaccine who were not on any priority list.

A memo to hospital CEOs Sunday, signed by top provincial health officials responsible for the vaccine rollout, called for a process to fill last-minute cancellations and no-shows with people in the priority groups.

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Having completed first doses to long-term-care (LTC) residents and in anticipation of more supply, Ontario expanded its vaccination priorities to include adults 80 years of age and older, staff and residents in retirement homes, high priority health-care workers,  Indigenous adults and recipients of at-home chronic care.

“The provincial target of providing a first dose offer of vaccine to residents of all long-term care homes and high-risk retirement homes is arriving at completion,” the Ford government said in a statement.

“This includes work underway to make vaccinations available to First Nations elder-care homes across the province. At this time, we are pleased to report that residents at all long-term care homes across the province have been given an opportunity for their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.”

Ontario did not release the number of new COVID-19 cases Monday, the Family Day holiday, and is planning instead to provide two-day’s worth of data on Tuesday.

Canadian Press reported the Ontario Ministry of Health is developing a web portal for members of the public to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments.

aartuso@postmedia.com