The City of Ottawa will finish its second round of COVID-19 vaccinations for residents in local long-term care homes on Friday, Mayor Jim Watson says.
The milestone in Ottawa’s coronavirus vaccination campaign comes a week after long-term care residents started receiving their second doses.
The first round of vaccinations took 11 days, during which 92 per cent of residents across the city’s 28 long-term care homes opted to receive the vaccine.
Ottawa’s tight supply of COVID-19 vaccines had thrown the second round of vaccinations into uncertainty, as Canada received no new shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during the week of Jan. 25.
Anthony Di Monte, head of Ottawa’s vaccine task force, had said staff at the Ottawa Hospital were “doing the math” to determine whether the supply on-hand and expected future deliveries would be sufficient to provide long-term care residents with the second jab within the recommended 21-day to 28-day period between administered doses.
The city also received a boost to its supply earlier this week, with nearly 5,000 new doses arriving. Ottawa has received 30,225 doses of the vaccine to-date.
The paramedics, pharmacists and long-term care staff have also been able to extract a sixth dose from Pfizer-BioNTech’s stated five-dose vials, helping to stretch the supply.
Next on the list for vaccination are the city’s highest-risk retirement homes and other shared living facilities. High-risk individuals living outside congregate care will receive the vaccine in phase 2 of Ontario’s vaccination rollout plan, expected to begin in March.
The coronavirus vaccine is expected to be more widely available to Canadians this summer.