Ontario to withhold half of initial Pfizer doses when immunizations start Tuesday

The Ontario government says it will be cautious with its first supply of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech in order to ensure that the second doses will be there for those who receive the initial inoculation.

Provincial officials unveiled a three-phase implementation plan Friday to receive, store and administer COVID-19 vaccines to Ontarians as soon as they are received.

Phase One will begin on December 15 with the shipment of 6,000 doses which will be split equally between Ottawa and Toronto.

Retired gen. Rick Hillier says University Health Network in Toronto and the Ottawa Hospital will administer the first shots to health-care workers.

However, unlike other provinces which have said they will max out their initial supply, Hillier says they will be holding back at least half of the initial doses to ensure it will there when the second shot is required 21 days later.

“Given the information we know about the supply – which is very little at this time – and the dates when the next vaccines will arrive, we decided it is better to err on the side of caution,” Hillier said on Friday. “Vaccinate 1,500 people, guarantee them that we will have the second doses there for 21 days and then as we move down the road and other batches of the vaccine arrive and we develop a confidence in the vaccine supply, then we would reassess.”

Phase One is expected to cover health care workers who are providing care in hospitals and long-term care homes.

RELATED: Ontario to receive 6,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccinations on Monday

Phase Two is expected to begin later in the winter of 2021 when vaccinations will be administered to health care workers, as well as to residents in long-term care homes and retirement homes, to home care patients with chronic conditions and to additional First Nation communities and urban Indigenous populations, including Métis and Inuit individuals.

Ontario will enter Phase Three when there are enough vaccines available for every Ontarian who wishes to be immunized. While vaccines will not be mandated, during Phase Three, people will be strongly encouraged to get vaccinated.

An additional 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine expected later this month in the province are to be provided to 14 hospitals across Ontario, focusing on the areas where COVID-19 is spreading the most.

Hillier says the province also expects to receive between 30,000 and 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the new year, pending its approval by Health Canada.

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