With zero reported cases of COVID-19 for the first time since November in the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge health unit regions, the health unit’s vaccination program is beginning.
Dr. Ian Gemmill, Medical Officer of Health for HKPR said at Wednesday’s HKPR virtual media scrum the first doses of the Moderna vaccine have arrived in the area and the first order of business is to begin vaccinating those in long term care homes.
“So we received 700 doses this week. We’re hoping, and we expect to, I say hoping because you never know what’s going to happen, but we are expecting to get more doses next week and we’re going to do them all as fast as we can.”
Gemmill said the goal is to have all long term care home residents vaccinated by early February, and that the next in line will be healthcare workers. He also said that they expect vaccine delivery to slow down in the near future due to the difficulties the federal government is experiencing with suppliers overseas.
In the meantime, Gemmill encouraged people to continue to abide by the province’s stay-at-home measures and reminded that the possibility of spread is still very prevalent.
