Strong Federal-Provincial Cooperation Needed to Overcome Barriers to Mass Vaccination

TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2021 /CNW/ - "Given the delay in deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Ontario's COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution Plan has been modified to ensure the province's limited supply is rightfully directed to residents of long-term care homes. The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) fully supports this decision. As supply challenges intensify, all levels of government must work in complete lockstep to ensure that Ontario gets the supply needed to build capacity and vaccinate as many Ontarians as quickly as possible.

Health care workers in hospitals and many other settings are now in the tenth month of fighting the pandemic. It is important that they know when they can expect to be vaccinated. If the goal of vaccinating all 1.2 million health care workers by March 31^st, 2021 is going to shift because of delays in supply, we encourage the government to communicate that possibility as soon as possible.  

While hospitals work closely with the Ontario government on strengthening the province's vaccine strategy, other parts of the health care system are ready, willing and able to play a critical role in scaling up these efforts. It's vital that concrete plans be developed and implemented to migrate responsibility for vaccination effort away from hospitals to public health, primary care, and pharmacies, particularly as hospitals face mounting pressures on critical care capacity across the province."

-     Anthony Dale, President and CEO, Ontario Hospital Association

SOURCE Ontario Hospital Association