Ottawa Public Health (OPH) says more than 40,000 doses of the novel coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the nation’s capital to date.
The local public health unit’s vaccine tracker on its COVID-19 dashboard shows 40,013 total doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines have now been administered locally.
This surpasses OPH’s stated total of 39,100 doses received, but that figure is based on an assumption of five doses per vial of the Pfizer vaccine, whereas updated labels state each vial could contain six doses.
Ottawa finished its first round of vaccinations in high-risk retirement homes last week.
Ontario updated its priority list for the sequence of who is next in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, notably adding adults over the age of 80 to the high-priority list.
But the director of Ottawa’s emergency operations team and the city’s associate medical officer of health said in a memo to council on Tuesday that the city does not currently have the supply to start vaccinating residents aged 80 and over who are not already living in long-term care or retirement homes.
Ryan Perrault and Dr. Brent Moloughney said in the memo that city council will receive an update on future vaccination clinics at its next meeting on Feb. 24.
Also added to the province’s phase-one rollout are Indigenous adults and seniors in congregate care settings.
Meanwhile, OPH reported 31 new cases of the coronavirus and one death linked to COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The total number of cases in Ottawa since the start of the pandemic eclipsed 14,000 over the long weekend, with 150 new cases added from Saturday to Family Day Monday.
The city’s coronavirus positivity rate stands at 1.6 per cent.
Active cases in the city remain steady at 435 as of Tuesday.
There are currently 18 people in hospital with COVID-19, three of whom are in the intensive care unit.
A new coronavirus outbreak was declared at the city-run Peter D. Clark long-term care home on Monday where one staff member has tested positive for the virus.
The virus continues to hit Ottawa’s shelter system hard, with a number of ongoing outbreaks linked to the city’s shelters.
Two people who visited the city-run Tom Brown and Bernard Grandmaître respite centres tested positive for the virus as well, according to a memo sent to city council on Monday.
Both clients are now in isolation and OPH has advised the city that the centres can continue to operate and accept those in need of shelter with COVID-19 precautions in place, the memo read.
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