COVID vaccine: Thousands of doses still in Hamilton freezer while nurses plead for help
Hamilton has had 3,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in a freezer for more than two weeks as horrific" outbreaks carved a deadly path through seniors' homes.
Only about half of the 6,000 doses the city received the week of Dec. 21 have been given out as of Thursday.
It's an issue across the province as the Toronto Star has reported Ontario received 148,350 doses as of Dec. 31 but administered only 50,030 of them by Jan 4.
The vaccine rollout is too slow," said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. There needs to be a coherent, co-ordinated plan for fast rollout. Two weeks is too long. In the hot zones we need to roll it out 24-7 as fast as possible."
The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is also calling for COVID vaccine clinics to operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) currently aims to run for 12 hours every day.
The situation is very dire because the outbreaks are increasing," said RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun. That is why in nursing homes we desperately need the vaccination ASAP."
The coalition agrees more urgency is needed and has joined the Canadian Union of Public Employees in calling on the province to reconsider its decision to exclude Hamilton from an accelerated vaccination plan that would see staff and residents of long-term-care homes vaccinated in two weeks.
We feel very very strongly that Hamilton absolutely should be included," said Mehra. The case numbers in the community in are devastating. They mean a very dangerous situation for long-term-care homes all across Hamilton."
Hamilton is the only grey zone left out of the accelerated plan and, as a result, hasn't received any of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine that can be brought to seniors homes. It's unknown when that vaccine will arrive.
Instead, priority was given to the other grey zones of Toronto, Peel, York and Windsor-Essex.
The city also wasn't chosen for a pilot project to bring the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine into long-term-care homes, which will be tested in Ottawa. Up until now that vaccine could only be given out at clinics because it was thought unsafe to move.
Definitely the grey zones have a to be a priority - Hamilton is among those grey zones," said Mehra. The outbreaks we've seen in Hamilton ... are horrific. The toll in terms of health and death is horrific. There's no justification for leaving Hamilton out."
Public health has been ramping up the clinic at HHS, which was booked to give out 600 Pfizer doses Thursday compared to 250 on Monday. It's on track to get to 1,000 doses a day by next week.
The priority is staff at seniors' homes but any doses left at the end of each clinic day are given to hospital workers from HHS and St. Joseph's Healthcare to avoid wasting them. Hospital staff are prioritized based on those with the most exposure to COVID in the intensive-care units, emergency department and COVID units.
Around 480 doses have gone to hospital staff as of Jan. 4.
Part of the reason for the delay in administering Hamilton's vaccines was that half were originally being held back to ensure the second dose could be given. Now that the vaccine supply is more reliable, all doses are being given out.
Everyone knew the vaccine was coming," said Mehra. The province should have had a coherent plan in place long before the first shipment got here. It's just incompetent frankly ... People are dying by the scores (and) getting infected by the hundreds."
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com