The first doses of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine have already been doled out to health care workers in southern Ontario but the Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) region may not see this for a few months.
Dr. Kit Young Hoon, medical officer of health at the NWHU, said they already have a process in place for providing vaccines and are speaking with the province on how best to use those practices to deliver this vaccine. However, when the vaccine will arrive in Northwestern Ontario is is ultimately a provincial government decision.
Young Hoon said she is not expecting the Pfizer vaccine to come to the NWHU’s area because of transportation issues but does see the possibility of the Moderna COVID vaccine making its way here.
Moderna recently announced that its COVID vaccine no longer needs to be frozen during shipping which makes transportation much easier than the Pfizer vaccine which must be kept frozen at all times.
The Moderna vaccine is in the process of being approved for use in Canada.
Young Hoon said she understands that there are concerns regarding the vaccine because of the speed of its producion and approval, but she wants to reassure the public that all vaccines go through a rigorous approval process from Health Canada that requires many levels of testing before approval.
There is still lots of discussion taking place about what is going to happen but Young Hoon said that a vaccine will probably arrive no sooner than in the spring of 2021.
The NWHU announced no new COVID-19 cases on Friday. There are currently two active cases, one in the Kenora area and one in the Rainy River district.
Since March, there have been a total of 137 positive COVID-19 cases.
The NWHU also announced that the outbreak in Pickle Lake is now over as there were no reports of new cases after the two initial cases that were announced on Dec. 11.
With Christmas and New Year’s right around the corner, Young Hoon continues to encourage residents to not host non-essential visitors, gathering indoors and avoiding all non-essential travel to areas with a higher risk of COVID-19.
“Numbers are low and to keep them low, it is important to follow public health measures,” Young Hoon said. “Over the holidays, stay two metres from anyone not in your household, if you begin feeling unwell, stay at home away from others and get tested.”
Young Hoon said in terms of case numbers, the region is doing well but that the province as a whole is continuing to see numbers rise which is still concerning.
