CORNWALL – The first 1,200 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be delivered to the Eastern Ontario Health Unit next week, the region’s top doctor announced Monday.
Dr. Paul Roumeliotis says one tray of vials will be delivered from Ottawa and will be thawed, meaning the health unit will have five days to get the shots into people’s arms.
Roumeliotis says long-term care home staff, essential visitors and health care workers will be the first ones to be inoculated, following provincial health protocols.
There will be five sites set up in the EOHU area in order to give the initial shots as they can’t be transported, he explained. The logistics are expected to be ironed out tomorrow (Wednesday).
He expects those priority groups to have their shots by the end of the month.
“We’ve been itching to get our hands on some vaccines,” Roumeliotis remarked. “I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Later deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech are expected to be delivered to the hospital in Hawkesbury where a special ultra-cold freezer is available to store the vaccine.
The health unit is also expecting shipments of the Moderna vaccine which is a more portable because it doesn’t have to stored in deep cold.