The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway in Hamilton.
About 30 staff from local long-term care homes received shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday as the city opens its first COVID-19 vaccination clinic.
Workers from Parkview Nursing Centre, the Wellington Retirement and Long-Term Care Home, St. Peter’s Residence at Chedoke, Hamilton Continuing Care, and Baywoods Place were first in line for the vaccine.
“These homes were selected due to meeting the prioritization groups established by the province, and the availability of their staff today,” said Michelle Baird, director of Hamilton Public Health Services and co-chair of the HCRT Health Promotion and Immunization Working Group and Logistics Planning.
“The remainder of long-term care homes in the city will have an opportunity to receive the vaccine over the next several clinic days.”
The clinic is a joint effort by Hamilton Health Sciences, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, primary care physicians and Hamilton Paramedic Services, as well as Hamilton Public Health.
Baird said staff who are working at Hamilton homes with COVID-19 outbreaks should receive the vaccine by next week, but said it’s important to ensure those workers don’t have an opportunity to be in the same space as staff from homes not currently in an outbreak.
“We just want to make sure that we have staff from homes that are in outbreak at the clinic with other staff that are also in the same situation, as opposed to having them mixing with non-outbreak homes.”
Merdina Nangle-Palmer, a personal support worker and chief steward at Parkview Nursing Centre, was the first person to get the shot on Wednesday afternoon.
She said she wasn’t expecting to be the first in Hamilton to receive the vaccine, but said she was happy to get the shot.
“For me, it was a pleasure to roll up my sleeve and to get it done,” said Nangle-Palmer during an interview released by Hamilton Health Sciences.
“I’ve worked for 30 years in long-term care. I’m protecting myself, my family, and also the residents we care for. We have a responsibility and we make a commitment to take care of them. And we have to do everything in our power to take care of the elderly.”
Hamilton’s first vaccine shipment includes approximately 6,000 doses to be distributed to 3,000 workers – with two doses for each person – over the coming days and weeks.
Bruce Squires, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital and vice-president of Children’s and Women’s Health for Hamilton Health Sciences, said they’re waiting on the province to learn when more doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive.
“We don’t know yet when we’ll receive our additional shipments, although we do understand they will begin to come more regularly going forward,” said Squires.
Although Health Canada has just approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Baird said it’s too soon to know when that will be available to Hamilton’s long-term care workers.
“We do know, and have heard as well, that the Moderna vaccine will have more ability to go to those homes, which means there will be an opportunity for residents of long-term care homes to receive the vaccine as well, and potentially it will assist with the issue of staff that are in outbreak facilities.”
It will still be many months before either vaccine is available to the general public.
Phase one of the province’s vaccine roll-out includes priority groups like residents and staff in long-term care and retirement homes, hospital staff and other health care workers, vulnerable seniors, and adults in Indigenous communities.