TBRHSC: COVID-19 Vaccine Update for January 25th

Thunder Bay’s COVID-19 vaccine program is a collaborative effort between the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU). TBRHSC has revised information on the Pfizer vaccination rollout from the provincial government which gave an update today, following Pfizer’s decision to pause and slow down their supply chain for a few weeks. As you know, we are expecting considerably fewer vaccination doses than originally planned over the next few weeks.

• Under the direction of the province, we will only be providing First Dose Vaccination to long-term care residents in the District in the coming weeks.
• Our goal is to administer first doses by February 5th (pending vaccine availability).
• For 2nd doses, Long Term Care resident groups will receive second doses within the 21-27 day period after their first dose.
• For all other groups, we are following the directive to expand the allowable second dose time period to no more than 42 days. This is based on recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), with support from the WHO and CDC.
• Ontario’s initiative to vaccinate northern, remote First Nations communities will also continue.

Clearly, given these unplanned changes in vaccination availability, many scheduled appointments will need to be rescheduled. People who had appointments will be contacted directly.

To date, more than 2,600 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Thunder Bay, with 100% of Long Term Care residents who requested the vaccine having now been vaccinated in the City of Thunder Bay. Over half of LTC staff have also been vaccinated, some with second doses already.

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