When his number is eventually called to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli says he will gladly roll up his sleeve.
Asked when local residents can expect to do the same, Fedeli indicated the focus thus far has been on "front-line health care workers everywhere, long-term care, and adult First Nations. So, there's not a geographic guideline."
Fedeli adds, "We'll continue to take advice from the table that has been established. We have a team and it has logistics people, it has medical people, technical people. So, we'll continue to take their advice."
Health care workers in some Ontario zones most affected by COVID-19 will receive the province's first doses of the vaccine this week.
Beginning Tuesday, Ontarians, including some 2,500 at one hospital in Toronto and another in Ottawa, will each be given one shot of Ontario's initial allotment of 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
Fedeli advises the federal government is responsible for the first round of vaccine. "It's going to the sites directly. It can't be shipped and re-shipped," whereas the provincial government's role will be to distribute more widely.
Retired Canadian Army General Rick Hillier is leading Ontario's vaccine task force and indicated half of the vaccine shots will be reserved for a second dose 21 days later.
Fedeli advises, "This first round of vaccine will be limited because it has to be flown directly to where it's going to be administered. The next batch [from Moderna] will be a little more flexible."
The Pfizer vaccine has presented officials with distribution challenges due to its necessary storage temperature of minus 70C. Ontario is expected to receive 90,000 more doses of the Pfizer vaccine before the end of the year.
Hillier recently said, pending Health Canada approval, Ontario would receive 30,000 and 85,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine within weeks. Officials have said the Moderna vaccine must be stored at minus 20C, which can be achieved with standard freezers and is easier for the logistics of the roll-out.
With files from The Canadian Press
