BRANTFORD, ON – The Brant County Health Unit (BCHU) has completed mobile vaccination clinics at all long-term care and retirement homes in Brant. COVID-19 vaccine was received on January 12 and January 15 and teams were immediately launched to vaccinate those most vulnerable to COVID-19-related illness.
At the direction of the Province, these first doses of vaccine were administered to residents, staff and essential caregivers at long-term care and retirement homes. As part of the first group sequenced to receive vaccine, all residents in these facilities have received their initial COVID-19 vaccine. The majority of staff in these homes and some essential caregivers have also received their vaccination.
To deliver these clinics, the BCHU worked in partnership with the Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS) and Brant-Brantford Paramedic Services. Pharmacy staff from BCHS were instrumental in the delivery of the first clinics and supported with the transportation and preparation of the vaccine for administration. Through the high level of skill of the pharmacy technicians and the BCHU nursing staff, an additional dose of vaccine was often available for administration. This allowed more people in the community to be immunized with the current limited vaccine supply. The paramedics were also involved in the operation of the clinics and provided support to anyone concerned about feeling unwell when receiving a vaccination.
Late Wednesday morning, BCHU received new information from the Ministry of Health announcing a temporary pause to immunizing anyone other than residents at long-term care and retirement homes due to the reduction in COVID-19 vaccine supply. This was in response to the news the day prior that Canada would not receive any Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the coming week.
This is obviously disappointing for the community but as this situation is evolving quickly, we expect this pause to be temporary. We are awaiting word from the Ministry of Health for exact timelines on when vaccine will be available and we can resume the vaccination of staff and essential caregivers at these facilities. As soon as vaccine is available, immunizations will resume.
The total number of people vaccinated on the BCHU COVID-19 Dashboard will reflect this pause in immunization in the short-term. Residents and staff who have already been vaccinated will still be scheduled to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
To learn more about COVID-19, how you can protect yourself and what to do if you suspect you may be at risk, please visit www.bchu.org/coronavirus or visit Ontario’s website to learn more about how the province continues to protect Ontarians from COVID-19.
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