'Biggest problem' facing Hamilton's vaccine rollout is limited supply, top health official says

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, on Thursday sought to assure residents who are concerned about the seemingly slow pace of the city's vaccine rollout, that improvements are coming.

During a live interview with CBC Hamilton, Richardson said supply is the main issue affecting the pace of the vaccine rollout. 

"Unfortunately, with the vaccine supply that we have that's coming through right now, there are choices that have to be made," Richardson said in response to a viewer.

"This is the biggest problem that we have right now — the supply of vaccine and it coming in.

"We know that one of the big vaccine companies, Pfizer, did take a pause to actually be able to get more vaccine more quickly, but that has unfortunately delayed us a little bit further as a result as well," she said.

As of the end of day Feb. 24, a total of 32,925 vaccines had been administered — 10,725 at mobile clinics and 22,200 at the fixed clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences.

On Wednesday, the head of the province's immunization task force said an online portal for booking appointments for COVID-19 vaccines in Ontario is set to launch on March 15, but it will likely be months longer before many people are able to get a reservation.

Retired general Rick Hillier said the delay in the launch is because the focus until that point will be on populations that don't require an appointment, such as patient-facing health-care workers and essential caregivers for long-term care residents.

"I would have liked to have it earlier, quite frankly," Hillier told reporters, adding that health authorities are working "furiously" to test the system.

When the online portal, along with a telephone booking system, launches in March, Ontarians aged 80 and over will be the next priority. Hillier cautioned that anyone who is not in that age group, or who is not trying to make a reservation for a person in the 80-plus age group, will not be able to book an appointment in the weeks that follow.

Meanwhile, Richardson said, "We're hopeful that vaccine supply is going to open up significantly as we head closer to the summer … but at this point the province is making some decisions about who is going to get vaccinated first according to their own personal risk."

39 new cases of COVID-19 in Hamilton

Hamilton Public Health Services is reporting 39 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

There are 379 active cases of COVID-19 in the city with no new death linked to the virus in the last 24 hours.

Hamilton's weekly rate of new cases per 100,000 people is at 56.

Since March, a total of 281 people have died after contracting COVID-19.

The total number of resolved cases now stands at 9,471.

There are currently 25 COVID-19 outbreaks in the city, including Extendicare Hamilton, St. Matthew's Children Centre and St. Eugene Catholic Elementary School.

Brant

The county of Brant has 56 active cases according to data online. There were 14 new cases in the last 24 hours.

There have been 1,464 cases since March and 12 deaths. There's no one currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

A total of 1,396 cases have been marked as resolved. 

There have been 7,789 doses of the vaccine administered.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are reporting a total of 27 active cases of COVID-19 with two new cases reported over the last 24 hours.

There have been 1,412 cases throughout the pandemic. Of those 1,341 have recovered.

The local public health unit has linked the virus to 39 deaths.

There have been 4,916 doses of the vaccine administered. 

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 35, for a total of 9,356 so far.

Data indicates 230 of those cases are active.

Eight of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,395 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 37 active cases in the city.

A total of 195 people across the region have died after being infected with the virus, 49 of them in Burlington.

The region is reporting a total of 49 variant cases, eight of which have been confirmed as variants of concern. The remaining 41 have been screened positive. These are individuals for whom a mutation was identified in the case's SARS-CoV-2 positive specimen, suggestive of a possible variant of concern.

Niagara

Niagara is reporting 12 new cases of COVID-19. The region has seen 8,525 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 251 that are active.

A total of 370 deaths have been linked to the virus over the course of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 7,904 cases are now marked as resolved.

There have been 10,011 doses of the vaccine administered in Niagara. 

Six Nations

Six Nations of the Grand River had 37 active COVID-19 cases, according to Ohsweken Public Health.

There have been 277 cases reported over the course of the pandemic and three deaths.

A total of 237 cases have been marked as resolved.

Ontario reports 1,138cases of COVID-19

Ontario reported another 1,138 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as the number of active infections provincewide increased for the first time in more than six weeks.

The upward climb was small — in total, there were just 21 more active cases yesterday than the day before (10,071 compared to 10,050) — but it could be notable, given that until now infections marked as resolved have outpaced newly confirmed cases every day since Jan. 12.

The seven-day average of new daily cases increased for a fifth straight day to 1,099.