3 workers suspended after wrong people vaccinated, Hamilton won't say how it will investigate

The city won't say how it plans to investigate the case of three workers placed on leave after the wrong people got the COVID-19 vaccine.

Hamilton city spokesperson Matthew Grant wouldn't say Monday what the investigation will entail, when it will begin, or what department the workers were from.

"We aren't able to share any additional information beyond what is in our media release at this time, pending the investigation," he said in an email.

The city put three workers on paid leave after it learned that about 15 COVID-19 vaccine doses went to people who weren't eligible to receive them, city manager Janette Smith said in an internal email on the weekend. 

This came after other people working at the mobile vaccination clinic reported concerns. 

Hamilton Public Health Services is reminding staff to follow the established policies when it comes to giving people the vaccine, the city said in a media release. 

"The city is committed to ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines are administered in a way that is fair, equitable and based on criteria that prioritizes those that are most in need," Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, medical officer of health, said in the release.

"Any actions designed to circumvent the vaccine program's eligibility criteria are unethical and unacceptable."

The city is currently vaccinating the highest priority health-care workers, shelter workers and clients and people aged 85 or older. 

The next group to be vaccinated will be adults aged 80 or older, staff and residents in retirement homes and other congregate care settings, more health-care workers considered high priority, Indigenous adults, and those receiving chronic home care. 

The schedule, as dictated by the Ministry of Health, is as follows:

• People aged 80 and older: 3rd week in March.
• Aged 75 or older: April 15.
• 70 or older: May 1.
• 65 and older: June 1.
• 60 and older: July 1.

There are 409 people currently known to have COVID-19 in Hamilton on Monday, an increase of 30 from the day before.

Overall, 10,831 people in Hamilton have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last year, and 287 people, or three per cent, have died. 

Seven per cent of people who have had COVID-19 in Hamilton have been hospitalized. 

The most common age for COVID-19 cases is 20 to 29, whereas most of the deaths — 202 of 287 — have been people older than 80, although two people who were in their 40s and two people in their 50s have died.