Province silent on why it won’t let public health talk about vaccine supply

Hamiltonians remain in the dark about our vaccine supply thanks to a gag order issued by the province.

But we know long-term-care residents are getting vaccinated. And Moderna is on its way.

On Monday, Hamilton's medical officer of health confirmed the province had issued a directive to public health to stop sharing information about the city's COVID vaccine supply. It remains unclear why the province issued the directive or if other public health units have been told the same.

The province did not respond to questions about why they've silenced public health. One expert thinks it might be an effort to pre-emptively stave off vaccine rollout criticism.

But there's some good news: more than 7,000 vaccines have been administered in Hamilton. That includes the vaccination of 370 residents of long-term-care.

Public health confirmed Tuesday that residents at Idlewyld Manor, St. Peter's Residence, Hamilton Continuing Care, Macassa Lodge and Shalom Village have all been vaccinated. Up on the docket for Wednesday is Wentworth Heights.

A total of 4,900 long-term-care residents in 27 homes and those in 10 high risk" retirement homes are expected to be vaccinated via a mobile clinic by Jan. 18.

Hamilton's fixed-site vaccination clinic is currently vaccinating around 1,000 people a day, mostly long-term-care staff. Some are eligible for their second dose this week.

The last update Hamilton received about vaccine supply came last week: public health confirmed we had 6,000 of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. All doses came as part of one shipment that arrived the week of Dec. 21.

Donna Skelly, Hamilton's only Progressive Conservative MPP, confirmed to The Spec on Tuesday that four shipments of Pfizer have been delivered, including one Tuesday, and that one small" batch of the Moderna vaccine is on its way later this week. She did not know how many doses are in each shipment.

It appears we have enough - for now.

On Monday, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, said: I can tell you we continue to receive volumes as we move forward ... We do continue to have a supply."

As for the province's silencing directive, Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, said it might be an attempt to quell criticism that would emerge if vaccine rollout didn't go as planned.

(They're) moving on the fly," said Chagla of the province's efforts to vaccinate Ontarians.

The province is juggling supply with demand, he said, and in some cases, it might have to take vaccines destined for Hamiltonians' arms and send them to regions that are running out of - or have yet to receive - the vaccine. That would surely draw criticism.

Then there's the matter of administering second doses. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine require two injections a few weeks apart. People awaiting vaccination might be frustrated to know that a supply that's dwindling is prioritized for second doses, not first ones, Chagla said.

Troubleshooting is easier done outside of the prying public eye.

Still, the directive conflicts with Premier Doug Ford's commitment to transparency, made early on in the pandemic.

I don't know of any other government across Canada that has been more transparent. It has been unprecedented transparency," Ford said in November.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath wonders: Why then conceal information from Hamiltonians?

Perhaps Ford wants to continue to weave his bogus story about vaccine shortages," Horwath said, alluding to the premier's routine plea to the federal government for more vaccines, saying the province is running out.

He wants to be able to continue to have in his quiver the arrow that can shoot at another order of government like the federal government to try to change the channel from his own failings as a premier and to protect people from COVID-19 and to stop the spread," Horwath said. It's disgraceful ... Every Ontarian should be able to have information available from any source they can possibly can get it."

Responding to The Spec's questions about Hamilton's vaccine supply, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said in an email: Ontario is committed to vaccinating Ontarians as quickly and safely as possible, and we have continued to encourage sites to work within their confirmed delivery inventory to manage doses accordingly."

Spokesperson Christian Hasse said the province exhausted its initial shipment of Pfizer vaccines and expects to use up all 48,000 Pfizer doses received last week by the end of this weekend.

We are expecting to receive approximately 80,000 Pfizer and 56,000 Moderna doses at some point this week, and we continue to urge the federal government to deliver more COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible to keep up with Ontario's capacity to administer," the spokesperson said.

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com